


Apples, Trees

by pickleplum



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: AU: Age difference, Found Family, Gen, Major Character Injury, teen!Hermann
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-19
Updated: 2014-02-13
Packaged: 2018-01-02 00:56:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 20,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickleplum/pseuds/pickleplum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newt’s more than a little surprised when he finds a kid, an honest-to-god child, in the Hong Kong Shatterdome’s library. Over time, the two of them are more than a little surprised to find a family together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Sight (December 2021)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt makes a less-than-stellar first impression on Hermann and Hermann's father.

Newt’s more than a little surprised when he finds a kid, an honest-to-god child, in the Hong Kong Shatterdome’s library. He knows the PPDC is recruiting younger and younger pilots (for pete’s sake, Chuck Hansen _graduated_ last year at fifteen and is in Sydney killing kaiju already), but this one doesn’t look much more than ten. Newt sizes him up. He’s skinny, wearing glasses and a sweater, and hiding behind what looks like a math textbook giving off geeky vibes. It takes a moment for Newt to realize it’s not just any math book. It’s a _calculus_ text. This one will turn out like me, Newt thinks. I should introduce myself.

Newt drops into the seat across the table from the boy. “Hi there! I haven’t seen you around before. My name’s Newt. What’s yours?” he asks brightly.

The kid actually pauses to read Newt’s ID badge. “I am Hermann Gottlieb, Doctor Geiszler.” His English comes with a crisp British accent.

“Only my mom calls me that. It’s okay to call me Newt.”

Hermann looks scandalized. “It is not proper to call adults by their first names.”

“Well I’m not a proper adult, so it’s alright.” 

“I should not develop any bad habits,” the kid sniffs. Oh boy, Newt thinks, this one’s a special case. His family must take etiquette hella seriously. Most boys would jump at a tiny rebellion like this. Or, if they were Newt at that age, plunge headfirst into it. But I'm good with kids, Newt tells himself, so I can deal with this.

“So, anyway, has your family moved onto the base?”

“My father is here to consult with the Marshal.” 

“Cool. I know you’re probably having a blast with calculus, but do you want to come see the science labs? We keep all the cool things that aren’t giant mecha down there. The rest of the team will love to meet you.”

For the first time, the kid--Hermann--looks interested. “I suppose that is acceptable. I need to be back here by 1600, however, to meet my father.”

“Not a problem. Let’s go!” Newt offers to lead Hermann by the hand, but Hermann pointedly ignores the gesture and falls into step beside him.

In the labs, Hermann’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. It’s not the kaiju samples in Newt’s biology area but the holo-projection of the physics guys’ latest Breach model that does the trick. Hermann’s impressing the hell out of the physicists with his questions and they’re having a great time explaining the model and their theories. It’s all a little over Newt’s head and he has some fresh samples to play with so he leaves them to it and heads back to his own lab.

He turns the stereo up and digs into a kidney sample. The structure of the thing is _fascinating_ and Newt loses himself in studying it. He’s so engrossed, in fact, that he jumps at least a foot in the air when he feels a tug on his sleeve. Newt looks down to see Hermann gaping in absolute terror at the big blue stain across the front of his sweater. Well, at least that explains what happened to the chunk of sample I was holding, Newt thinks.

“Don’t worry, Hermann. The Blue’s neutralized so it can’t hurt you. Let’s get you in the shower and cleaned up.” Newt herds an unresisting Hermann into the science locker room. “You hop in there and scrub down. I’ll grab you the spare shirt in my locker since your sweater is a total loss. That stuff doesn’t come out. And is sort of a biohazard.”

Newt returns Hermann to the library ten minutes late with damp hair and wearing an oversized t-shirt from some Boston dive bar. A severe-looking man in a sharply pressed suit who must be Harmann's father is clearly not amused by the situation. He grabs the boy roughly by the shoulder and marches his son out of the room without bothering to acknowledge Newt at all. Newt notices Hermann's violent flinch at his father’s touch. 

Hermann hangs his head and doesn’t look back. 

Newt sighs. “That could’ve gone better."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to make a minor edit after posting related to Hermann's accent after I noticed that I hadn't updated from an earlier draft where this incident happened when he was even younger.


	2. Scientist’s Apprentice (July 2022)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt's wish for a minion comes true. Sort of.

Newt sidles into Marshal Xiong Li-hua’s office nervously. He’s never called up here unless he’s in deep trouble, usually for throwing kaiju bits at some visitor or another.

“Take a seat, Doctor Geiszler,” she says. Newt settles himself across the desk from her while she continues. “I’m aware you’ve been requesting an assistant at every opportunity for the last year, despite how strained our resources are. You’ve surely noticed the funding situation has reduced our K-Science division to exactly one member during this period.”

“Which is the dumbest move the PPDC has made since I joined. There’s so much more we can learn….”

Marshal Xiong holds up a hand for silence and when Newt ignores her, she simply talks over him. “That said, we have a rather … unique opportunity to provide you with a pair of helping hands.”

_”Yes!_ Finally!”

“I’m pleased to see you enthused at the prospect.” She smiles. If Newt was paying more attention instead of daydreaming about never having to load the autoclave again, he would notice that she looks rather like a cat with a mouthful of songbird. “Your assistant will need to occupy one of the rooms adjacent to your lab, so you’ll need to remove any stored materials today so that maintenance staff may give it the once-over before he arrives tomorrow afternoon.”

Dismissed, Newt practically skips all the way back to the lab. “I’m getting a minion!” he chants as he goes. The few people he passes in the halls give him strange looks before shrugging and dismissing it as more of the normal weirdness from the resident mad scientist. 

He whistles while he tosses a small mountain of dusty boxes out of the room next to his own and onto the floor of the main lab, finishing as the cleaning crew arrives to clear out the colony of spiders that had set up a civilization under the bed and scrub away the accumulated grime. Newt builds a fort with the boxes in one of the last clear spaces along the lab wall and smiles as he contemplates hiding from the Marshal in it the next time something explodes.

After a lunch of cup noodles, Newt sets out to work on his next paper, which details the strength of kaiju armor. The narrative parts flow easily, but the diagrams are another story. He growls at his whiteboard. “Why the hell isn’t this working? The curve is messed up!” He makes a strangled, frustrated noise and throws the dry erase marker in his hand across the room.

“Of course it’s not working. Your math is wrong.” Newt startles and whirls as the high, British-accented voice cuts across the space.

“Hey, kid!”

“Don’t call me that. I have a name, Doctor Geiszler.” The kid has an impressive scowl, Newt has to admit.

“It’s Newt, Hermann." Newt gestures theatrically toward the board. “So where’s this mistake you think I made?”

“Right here,” Hermann answers, striding over and pointing at a single digit in the long equation written in Newt’s scrawl. “If we substitute like so,” he grabs a marker from the ledge and overwrites the number, “the curve evens out and your model makes something resembling sense. At least as much as any of your models makes sense.”

“What do _you_ know about my models?”

“I’ve read your papers. Except for your math, they’re surprisingly well-written and researched. Frankly, the math is fascinating, because I have no idea how someone as obviously educated as yourself can make so many simple errors.” Hermann shakes his head sadly. "The state of peer-review in biology is truly appalling."

Newt sputters at the insult to his chosen field. “Where do you get off? What are you, twelve?” He can’t believe he’s having this argument with a kid less than half his age.

“I’m thirteen,” Hermann retorts and Newt rolls his eyes. “Advanced mathematics is my specialty. Before you voice that sarcastic remark I can tell you’re trying to think of, I regularly test at a postgrad level in calculus, as one would hope you would, Doctor Geiszler.”

Newt grinds his teeth and growls “What’re you doing here, anyway? Besides annoying the hell out of me.”

“I am to be your … _assistant_ for the foreseeable future, Doctor.”

Newt doesn’t trust his ears. “What? What did you just say?”

“I am the assistant the Marshal promised you.” Hermann enunciates each word carefully, as though talking to a small child.

“Uh. Sit down for a moment.” He motions Hermann toward the one office chair without a stack of books or papers on it. “I need to make a call.” Newt ducks into his room and pulls out his phone. A moment later he pops his head back out the door. “Don’t touch anything.” He disappears again.

“Marshal! Why didn’t you tell me my ‘assistant’ was a kid?” he hisses.

“You didn’t ask about his age or qualifications or anything about him, really, Doctor,” Newt can hear the woman smirking over the phone. “Young Mister Gottlieb came with glowing references about his intelligence and work ethic.”

_”He’s thirteen!”_

“And? If I remember correctly, you were halfway through an undergraduate degree at that age, yes? Surely this teenager can handle washing glassware.”

Newt grumbles, “Doesn’t this violate some sort of child labor law? Why isn’t he in school?”

“We’ve had fifteen-year-old Jaeger pilots, Doctor. Child labor regulations aren’t high on law enforcement’s to-do list during wartime.” She pauses for a moment. “As for why he’s here, I am a soft touch when it comes to both children and free labor. The boy’s father thought the Jaeger program would be a good fit for him. Apparently the young master has been a bit of a behavior problem in classrooms and with tutors. I believe you have first-person experience working with highly intelligent, difficult people, Doctor. Is there anything else?” she says, her tone clearly indicating that the conversation is over.

“Christ, that woman is terrifying,” Newt mumbles as he disconnects. 

“Okay, Hermann. It looks like we’re stuck with each other for the time being.” He catches a hurt look flicker across Hermann’s face at the word ‘stuck’. “It’s going to be an adventure, so let’s start by getting you settled in your room.” He moves to wrap an arm around Hermann’s shoulder to steer him, but the boy sidesteps out of reach and walks toward the open door to his room, dragging a small duffel behind himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t worry about the OC. You’ll never see her again. She’s just there to create some plausibility, since Stacker Pentecost is still in Anchorage at this point, per film canon.
> 
> The idea that the scientists’ living quarters open onto the lab comes from [this Tumblr post](http://koscheisdrums.tumblr.com/post/65659282945). I liked the idea so much that it’s become my new headcanon.


	3. Retail Therapy (July 2022)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys go shopping.

The room is a mirror image of Newt’s own, with the standard issue furniture, small appliances, and private bathroom. “It’s a little sparse, sorry,” Newt says as Hermann inspects the space. “Unpack, then we can grab some food and go shopping for whatever else you need.” It only takes a few minutes for Hermann to stow the clothing and handful of books in the duffle in the closet and on the shelves. “When does the rest of your stuff get here?” Newt asks as he finishes.

“These _are_ all of my things, Doctor.”

“Dude, where are the toys? Games? Comic books?” Newt scans the room again. “The pictures?”

“I don’t need any of those things. They distract from my studies.” Hermann sounds like he’s trying to convince himself as well as Newt.

“Then you’re going to ‘study’ how to be a kid, too. That’ll be my contribution to your education. We’re going to get you fun stuff.” Newt yanks open every drawer and cabinet door and makes a mental list of everything Hermann will need. It’s a long one. “Let’s start with what we have to get in the city. That way we can stop for some amazing _bao_ at this place I know.”

The food is the best Hermann has had in months. “It’s all about the open port. You can get the best food from anywhere in the world, so you’ve got to take advantage of the bounty you can,” Newt explains. “That’s why our first stop is for groceries.” 

It takes some convincing before they leave the grocery with the baby carrots, orange juice, and dried fruit Hermann wants and packets of noodles, chips, and cookies that Newt insists Hermann will love. The boy looks dubiously at the foil wrappers but doesn’t object.

“Next: Entertainment!” Newt declares. The toy shop he chooses occupies the entire second floor of a building on a main shopping street. “Anything you want,” he says, spreading his arms wide. “Seriously. Anything. Ooo! New kaiju posters!” Newt darts off. Let’s see if he loosens up if I’m not watching, he thinks, keeping Hermann in his peripheral vision while flipping through the pile of images scanning for ones that aren’t already in his collection. Hermann hesitates in front of the detailed Jaeger models for a long moment before shuffling deeper into the store to examine the selection of games. 

Newt waits a moment, then pops up beside him, two new posters under his arm. “You play chess?” he asks. Hermann scoffs. “Of course you do. Ever try Go? I think you’ll get a kick out of it.” Newt grabs a simple chess set with wooden pieces and a basic Go board with glass stones. “We should probably grab something Jaeger-related, like, maybe some of those models. How about the home team to start with?” He picks up _Horizon Brave, Shaolin Rogue,_ and _Crimson Typhoon._ “Any other favorites? Grab ‘em.” Hermann tentatively adds _Cherno Alpha_ and _Striker Eureka_ to the pile of goods in Newt’s arms and smiles a little when Newt nods and grins in approval. The size of the bill shocks Newt, but it’s worth it for the smile.

The next stop is what Newt declares ‘the best thrift store in Hong Kong’. Hermann is less impressed. “I hate shopping for clothes.” He makes a disapproving face.

“You’re too small for standard-issue stuff, so you’ll have to deal or go naked.” Hermann looks simultaneously offended and embarrassed at the suggestion, but steps inside when Newt holds the door for him. The sun has dipped below the roofs of the tallest buildings as they leave with bags of wardrobe basics to supplement what Hermann brought with him.

The two of them stroll under the lighted signs in the general direction of the ‘Dome munching on _cheung fun_ from a street vendor. “I saved the best for last: Books! Let’s get in there so we have plenty of time before they close.” Hermann lights up and practically runs to the door, then quickly disappears into the maze of shelves. Newt browses the manga and comic book sections and takes a brief tour of the science fiction before setting out to hunt for Hermann in earnest. He finds the kid in the science section examining books on robotics and astrophysics. A small stack of math and physics reference texts sit on the floor next to him. “How’s it going?” Newt asks.

“Quite well. There’s a good selection here. I’ve been hoping to find this one,” he holds up a history of the early Jaeger program, “for some time now.”

“Cool. But we’re not leaving until you pick out some fiction. I mean it. Look at me. All I’ve got here are manga,” Newt says, flashing the volumes in his hand.

“You may not set the best example when it comes to selecting appropriate reading material,” Hermann says with evident disapproval.

“Being ‘appropriate’ is completely overrated.” Newt puts on his best professorial voice. “Besides, one does not become the world’s leading xenobiologist reading scholarly monographs alone.” He grins as he continues, “It takes a lot of comic books, too.” At that, Hermann relents with a sigh and follows Newt to the science fiction shelves, carrying his earlier choices. He studies a few titles and back cover blurbs before choosing two paperback novels and three short story anthologies. Thoroughly weighed down, the two trudge back to the Shatterdome and down to the science area, where they drop all of the purchases on the floor in Hermann’s room.

“You put all of this away while I jog up to Supplies and nab the rest of the necessaries for you.” Newt returns to find everything in Hermann’s room neatly disposed with the Jaegers occupying pride of place on a shelf facing the door. The boy is already dressed in his new pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt and sitting cross-legged on his bed reading the introduction to one of the collections of stories he’d selected. Newt laughs internally. So much for ‘appropriate reading material’.

“Do you have a normal bedtime, or something?” When Hermann replies in the affirmative, he asks “Want me to make sure you keep it? Actually, I’m not comfortable with that. How about this. You have to be in your room by 2200 hours, but you can go to sleep whenever as long as I can wake you up to go to breakfast with me?”

“That would be acceptable,” Hermann responds with a hint of a smile playing around his face.

“Excellent, dude. Which means it’s door-closing time. I’m in the next room if you need something.” Newt hesitates in the doorway. “Uh… You want a hug goodnight or anything?”

Hermann blinks in surprise. “N-no. No, thank you. I’m quite alright.”

“Uh… okay, then. Goodnight, Hermann.” Newt waves as he steps out the door and closes it behind himself. That was only a _little_ awkward. What’s the normal bedtime procedure for a thirteen-year-old? I have no idea, he thinks. I was already in college by then.

Newt retires to his own room and strips off his work clothes before settling on the bed, legs crossed, to read his new manga. How did my dad afford me? he wonders. The bare essentials for Hermann cost most of last month’s stipend. Jesus. It’s mess hall food and instant ramen for us for a while, I guess. He sighs and opens the book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can really see Hermann being down with Go. It’s a very complex game with very simple rules. The way I’ve heard Go fans comparing the game to “creating the universe” only reinforces my conclusion. I suck at Go, but I still love it. I’m not particular about boards, but it’s an absolute must to have stones made of something heavy, like glass or, well, stone.


	4. Personal Space (July 2022)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few boundaries are established.

The next morning, Hermann takes his first good look at Newt’s lab and is absolutely scandalized by its condition. It looks more like an antique store than a xenobiology lab. For heaven’s sake, there’s a couch, movie posters, and a _piano_ visible from the main door, to say nothing of the improper storage of chemicals around the room and what appears to be a childish fort built of boxes in the corner. While he hasn’t spent much time around active researchers, he can’t shake the notion that this space is extremely improper. He makes a mental note to try and impose some order on the chaos when given a moment.

They spend the morning on a tour of the lab and basic safety procedures. Hermann quietly absorbs everything and doesn’t have to be told twice what items are or how to handle them. Newt wishes his students at MIT had been like this. Teaching would have been so much easier.

Newt sets to work on the liver section he’d been dying to work on while directing Hermman to inventory basic lab supplies and identify anything that was running low or missing. The boy goes about the task quietly and without question.

Newt, though, has questions for Hermann. “I meant to ask yesterday, what’re you doing in Hong Kong? And the Shatterdome? And my lab? Shouldn’t you be with your family?”

Hermann’s shoulders tense as he pauses counting surgical implements. “It was becoming … inconvenient for my father to travel with me in tow. He has to move much more often now that he is in overall charge of the coastal wall project,” he answers in a resigned tone. “I believe Marshal Xiong owed him some sort of favor.”

“Waitaminute…,” Newt says, freezing in the middle of an incision and staring at Hermann. “You’re Lars ‘Wall of Life’ Gottlieb’s son?”

“Yes, I am. What of it?”

“Isn’t he a little old to have a teenage kid?” Newt cocks his head in confusion. “I thought he was older than my dad and his kids were my age.”

Hermann visibly bristles and clenches his fists at his sides while turning to face Newt. “I do not wish to wish to discuss my family any further.”

“Dude, I’m just curious about…,” Newt backpedals, hands up in what he hopes is a calming gesture.

Hermman cuts him off sharply. “If I am supposed to assist you, what task do you have for me? I would rather work than face interrogation about my genealogy.”

Ooookay, Newt thinks. This calls for a little digging in the personnel files. He can always call Tendo in Anchorage if he needs help getting into the system. Aloud, he says, “Finish loading the autoclave and start the cycle. After you’re done, we can head to the mess hall and eat lunch.”

After the meal, Newt settles in at his computer to type up his notes from the morning’s dissection and tells Hermann to ‘entertain himself’ for a bit. As he saves the file, he glances around to find his young lab partner. “What’re you working on so hard over there? One of the Millennium Prize puzzles?” Newt needles Hermann, who is hunched over a notebook where he sits on the lab’s couch.

“They are not ‘puzzles’. The Millennium Prize rewards solutions to some of the greatest open problems in mathematics.” Hermann sounds as condescending as five feet of underweight teenager can as he peers at Newt over his notes.

“You actually _are_ working on one, aren’t you?” Hermann nods and his pencil begins scratching across the paper again. “Which one are you tackling?”

“Yang-Mills existence and mass gap.”

Newt studies the boy for a moment and remembers the way he gravitated toward the Jaeger models and books. “Would you like a Jaeger- or kaiju-related problem to work on?” he asks. Hermann looks warily up again. “The physics and math guys left some unfinished work when they took off. Want to take a shot at it?”

“Of course.” Hermann looks like he’s been offered a truckload of candy and Newt gives himself a mental high-five.

“Ignore me for the rest of the afternoon, dig through the backup drive, and see if anything tickles you.” Several hours of sedate clicking follow. 

“Doctor Geiszler?”

“Newt.”

_“Doctor,_ I think I’d like to start with the maximum kaiju mass projection. Would that be acceptable?”

“We work together, dude. When it’s kaiju guts, I’m in charge. When it’s numbers, you are. You don’t need to ask for permission to pick a project for yourself, okay?” Hermann’s eyes go wide and he nods. A light bulb goes off in Newt’s head. I betcha I can make this even better, he thinks. “Before you get started, run up to the mailroom and see if the latest batch of slides from Lima is here yet. You can get rolling when you get back.”

While Hermann is out on the errand, Newt strips all of the equipment and detritus from a section of the raised platform opposite the lab from the living quarters and runs strips of yellow caution tape across the deck plating around the space. 

“You’ll need your own space to think. Whad’ya think?” “This is yours and I’ll do my best to stay out of it. Cool?” When Hermann stammers in astonished agreement, Newt claps his hands and says “Awesome! Let’s go score you some furniture.” They scavenge a desk, a bookshelf, a lamp, an office chair, a stepladder, and enough whiteboards to cover the walls from floor to ceiling up to the edge of the tape from around the storage rooms and abandoned offices of the Shatterdome. Once everything is set in place, Hermann runs his hand along the surface of the desk, a unmistakable look of pride on his face. Looks like I called this one right, Newt thinks.

“Now, let’s set a rule. You get at least, what, two hours a day to work on your projects? More if I don’t need you.” Newt grins as Hermann’s jaw drops. “I’ll be nice today,” he says. “You can start right now and I’ll stop you when it’s time to close up shop and go to bed.”

Hermann’s reply is quiet and sort of awed. “Thank you, Doctor Geiszler.”

Newt rolls his eyes. “Dude, I’ve already told you about a bazillion times to call me ‘Newt’.”

Later, after Newt shows him how to clean up and shut down the lab at the end of the day, Hermann slips into his pajamas and bed. For the first time since he was very small, he almost feels like he belongs somewhere. It even seems like Doctor Geiszler likes him. I’ll have to be careful not to upset him and ruin everything, he thinks, like I did with my father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chalkboards are just too old-fashioned for a guy born in 2009, so whiteboards it is.


	5. Under Fire (September 2022)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys survive dangers both inside and outside the lab.

“Anti-kaiju missile improvement test, take fifteen. 1,2-dichloroethane. Adding to unfixed tissue sample in three… two… one.” A sizzling sound emanates from the work surface. _”Ohshit,”_ Newt yelps as he dives for cover under the table, hitting the floor pursued by a fireball that lights up the room. Hermann starts to move from his observation post to make sure Newt is unhurt.

 _“Stay back! It’s…”_ Newt manages before he is cut off by a deafening bang.

“You okay? Hermann?” Newt doesn’t care that he’s screaming or his ears are ringing. All he can see is Hermann curled up on the floor and he scrambles toward him. _”You okay? Say something!”_

“I’m fine! I’m fine!” Hermann uncoils himself and sits up, shouting almost as loudly as Newt. “I dropped when you yelled.” His lip trembles for a moment, then he doubles over laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Newt demands

“You’re missing an eyebrow,” Hermann snorts. “Some of your hair, too.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not.” Newt looks crushed for a moment, then chuckles.

When the fire crew and medics arrive a few minutes later, they find the two of them on sprawled on the floor laughing hysterically.

On the walk back to the lab after a firm talking-to about following proper safety protocols inside the Shatterdome and an order to have the specifications for the new anti-kaiju explosive on her desk by the next day from the Marshal, they’re still giggling about Newt’s new hairstyle and the rest of the morning’s excitement.

“Too bad we can’t patent our new anti-kaiju warhead,” Newt remarks, still talking even more loudly than usual. “At the rate _Striker _is burning through missiles, you’d have a fat college fund in no time.” Hermann stumbles on hearing the comment, but Newt keeps walking and suggests heading into the city for a celebratory meal.__

__Several nights later Hermann is jarred out of a sound sleep by an ear-splitting alarm. He bolts out of his room and pounds on Newt’s door. Newt answers it shirtless and without his glasses and groans. “Breach alert. Kaiju on the loose. It’ll take LOCCENT a few minutes to figure out where it’s headed.” He stretches. “You might as well find something to do. Until the Jaegers take it out the stupid alarm’s gonna go off every ten minutes. Want some coffee?” He turns back into his room, somehow navigating the piles of clothing and books on the floor._ _

__“It is three o’clock in the morning and you’re thinking about coffee?” Hermann asks blearily, following him. “Are you insane?”_ _

__“Probably, but you already knew that. Do you want some or not?”_ _

__“No, thank you.” He grabs Newt’s tablet from the floor and powers it on._ _

__The pot is slowly filling when the alarm sounds again with a different tone. “It’s coming our way,” Newt sighs. “Let’s start getting dressed. This is gonna be a long night and long days the rest of the week when the new samples get here.” Newt pours himself a cup. “At least we’re not the Wei triplets. They’ll be suiting up about now.”_ _

__Hermann flips the tablet to the telemetry feed from LOCCENT. The kaiju is moving steadily at what seems an impossible speed. His mouth goes dry._ _

__Newt looks over his shoulder. “First time in a targeted city?” he asks quietly and Hermann nods. Newt takes a drink and grimaces. “Needs more sugar,” he mumbles. “It’ll be okay. The Weis and _Crimson Typhoon_ are between us and it. They're the best. Let’s go watch them launch.”_ _

__Hermann follows Newt to the Jaeger bay. They watch _Crimson_ flex all fifteen of her enormous fingers, then clench her three fists like a fighter preparing for a brawl, which, Newt thinks, she sort of is. A team of Jumphawks connect their cables and lift her from her berth to carry her to the ten mile line._ _

__“Godspeed and good luck,” Hermann mumbles after her. He shivers. The men in that machine are walking right up to a giant monster to kill or be killed to protect him. The thought makes his stomach churn. Newt steps up beside him._ _

__"It'll be alright. They'll come back and we'll be safe," he says. "Let's be good boys and get underground. We can nap while we wait."_ _

__They trundle down to the Shatterdome’s anti-kaiju bunker with the rest of the personnel to wait out the battle. Newt smiles when Hermann dozes off against his shoulder. It’s the first time the kid has willingly (more or less) touched anyone outside of a casual brush. Two hours later a polite chime sounds._ _

__“And there’s the all-clear. Time to get back in bed for a couple of hours. It’ll be busy for a bit with all of the samples coming.” Newt yawns and stretches. They walk back back to the lab with Hermann stumbling over his own feet. He’s so exhausted he lets Newt help him into bed and tuck him in._ _

__“Sleep good, kiddo,” Newt whispers as he brushes a kiss against Hermann's temple._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The eyebrow exchange inspired by [an infamous incident from _Mythbusters_.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5-xS9sDuLg&feature=youtu.be&t=27s)
> 
> The idea behind the “anti-kaiju missile improvement test”, which took too long to explain in the story so I just included the punchline, is that our boys are trying to find a cheaper, more effective payload for _Striker Eureka’s_ anti-kaiju missiles by identifying a substance that explodes on contact with ammonia (an apparently important constituent of kaiju biology) while generating enough heat to cauterize the wound and prevent the wider spread of Kaiju Blue. [1,2-dicholorethane is a chemical which really does react explosively with ammonia.](http://www.chemicalbook.com/ChemicalProductProperty_EN_CB9854275.htm) Some of the supplemental-canon material mentions that Newt worked on enhancements to the missiles, affording me a chance to explode something in the lab on camera. Heh.


	6. Blueprints (April 2023)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako visits the lab and dispenses some wisdom.

“Hermann, come over here and meet Mako. She doesn’t bite,” Newt calls. The boy shyly approaches and Newt makes the introduction. “Mako Mori, Hermann Gottlieb.”

“A pleasure, Miss Mori,” Hermann says with a polite bow.

“How do you like working with Newt?” she asks him with a twinkle in her eye.

The corner of Hermann’s mouth twitches up. “I find it challenging. He’s very hard to keep out of trouble.”

“He certainly is,” she says, her smile growing wider. 

“Hey! I’m standing right here!” Newt shouts indignantly, hands on his hips.

“Has he exploded anything lately?” Mako continues, completely ignoring Newt’s protests.

“Not since that gallbladder from a Category II three months ago,” Hermann replies. Mako laughs and Hermann blushes a little at the sound.

“Why’re you in Hong Kong, Mako? Get bored with all the snow in Anchorage?” Newt says as Mako finally turns her attention to him.

“The Marshal felt I needed a break from directing the work on _Gipsy.”_

Hermann’s jaw drops and his eyes go as large as dinner plates. “You’re in charge of rebuilding _Gipsy Danger?_ You must be amazing.” Mako lowers her eyes and smiles.

“I’ll bring her blueprints to the lab tomorrow so you can see the upgrades I have planned for her.”

The following afternoon, Hermann and Mako sit on the floor, shoulder to shoulder, as Mako explains how the diagrams are labeled and scaled. Hermann traces the circuit diagrams and structural blueprints with his fingertip. “I beg your pardon, Miss Mori, but there’s a problem with calculation of the amount of force the chain sword will transmit to the forearm.” She looks at him quizzically. “The steel will need to be reinforced or upgraded or deployment will warp the superstructure.” He fishes a stubby pencil and small notepad from a pocket and begins sketching out a simplified diagram of the Jaeger’s machinery with numerical annotations. “Like this.”

“We are using steel rated above standard for this load….” Hermann fills in a few more numbers. “I see. Even that is not enough during tensioning, especially under torque.” She gestures to take the pencil. “What if we buttress the main support beams here, above the tensioners?” she asks, drawing a series of new lines on the blueprint.

“That will help, but this,” Hermann says as he takes the pencil back and sketches in a dashed line, “would be an even more efficient angle. It will resist the same forces, but require less material.” He taps the pencil against his chin. “Doctor Geiszler has some new information on the density and strength of kaiju tissues. We should check if _Gipsy_ has enough strength to cut deeply or through rather than just slash. We may need to reinforce her further, add more engines, or set different ratios on the hydraulic systems.” Hermann jumps up and scampers to the other side of the lab to begin digging through the mountain of papers on Newt’s desk.

Newt watches the activity with a grin. It’s the happiest Hermann has looked since he arrived in Hong Kong. He marvels, not for the first time, about the magic Mako seems to work with people.

He gets Mako to himself for a little bit after banishing Hermann to his room and fills her in on Hermann and how the two of them came to share the lab. “His asshole father dumped him here last year and hasn’t bothered to visit once,” Newt says as he lets his head drop to his hands. “The Marshal handed him off to me for some reason. He’s a great kid and I’m terrified of screwing him up. I mean, I’m not exactly parent material, even without the war, the job, my history, and my….”

“Newt, it will be fine. You have a good heart.”

“I don’t think I can do this….”

“He’s a lot like you. Listen to him. Give him what he asks for, what he needs, and what you would have wanted at his age.” Mako pats Newt’s hand reassuringly. “Even _Sensei_ had to learn parenting by trial and error. I turned out better than fine, didn’t I?” Her smile is mischievous and Newt can’t resist one of his own.

Left alone with Mako the next morning, Hermann studies his shoes and asks her quietly, “Doctor Geiszler asked you to be nice to me, didn’t he?”

“I’m talking to you because I like you. He only told me a little about how you came to Hong Kong.” She pauses and looks at her hands. “I grew up in Shatterdomes without my family, too. Onibaba killed them,” she says, answering Hermann’s unspoken question. “Marshal Pentecost adopted me and I’ve traveled with him since then.” She glances at the boy. “Do you want to tell me about your family?”

Hermann nods, draws a shaky breath, and begins in a rush, forcing out the words before he can think better of it. “I’ve never met my mother. She abandoned me with my father as an infant. He worked on the Jaeger program at the beginning and dragged me around with him. When he took over the Wall program, he left me with Marshal Xiong, who forced Doctor Geiszler to take me. I was too much trouble for my father, just like I’m always wasting Doctor Geiszler’s time.”

“You are wrong about that, Hermann,” “You help him enormously. You’re even more wrong if you think he doesn’t care about you. He obviously loves you very much. He has an odd way of showing it because….”

“He’s Doctor Newton Geiszler,” Hermann supplies.

Mako laughs. “Exactly. You’re finding a family here, like I did. Here,” she says, handing him several large sheets of paper and a CD, “I’ve drawn up new plans for _Gipsy_ incorporating your changes. I brought you copies. Print and electronic.” “If you see any other improvements, email me. I’ll make sure you have the latest versions.”

Hermann tacks the prints to the wall above his bed, in a neat row, of course. It’s as he secures the last corner that he notices Mako has added his initials after hers on the line identifying the “Engineers and Designers”.

“I’m a Jaeger designer,” he whispers. To quote Doctor Geiszler, he’s a rockstar. It feels wonderful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I planned for Mako to make a cameo appearance, but she wound up taking over the chapter. She’s just the right age (19 to Hermann’s 13 here) to be an older sibling for this Hermann and a niece to Newt and she quickly started acting like it. This is also the first time I’ve achieved a voice for her that I like.


	7. Holidays (December 2023)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt and Hermann spend the holidays together being Newt and Hermann.

Newt pauses three steps up the ladder where he’s hanging a string of brightly colored lights over the arched entryway to the living quarters. “Is your dad coming to visit for the holidays? Or flying you out to see him?” he calls to Hermann.

The boy replies without looking away from the numbers and symbols he’s scrawled across his whiteboard. “We’ve never celebrated holidays. My father is too busy with his work.” He hesitates before continuing. “My sister has started writing to me, so maybe she’ll call or send a message.” Hermann gives Newt a sidelong glance. “What about you?” he asks.

“Uh… my dad died a couple of years ago and my mom and I don’t talk much. My uncle and cousin… I can’t really afford airfare to Berlin, so I’ll probably Skype them. We’re kinda in the same boat this season, dude,” he offers. “So we’ll need to make them merry for ourselves. Come over and plug these in. We need to see if they’re all working.”

“I will after I finish checking this equation,” Hermann answers, still not looking away from the board.

“Make it quick. I’m getting bored up here.” Newt drums his fingers on the ladder’s sides. “What are you working on anyway?” he asks while trying unsuccessfully to decipher Hermann’s writing.

“I’m calculating the odds of you ever having a lasting romantic relationship.”

“Oh hardy-har-har, Hermann. It’s not like I see you with a beautiful young thing every night.”

“If you’ve been too deeply involved with your kaiju parts to notice, there’s a severe shortage of people my age running about this station.”

“There’s ten million people in Hong Kong. Some of them have to be teenagers.” Newt pauses thoughtfully. “Besides, what about Mako?” Hermann’s marker skids halfway across the board as he jerks in surprise, resulting in a suggestively raised eyebrow from Newt. “You seemed awful sweet on her when she visited,” he prompts with a slight singsong in his voice.

“Miss Mori is a … friend, nothing more,” Hermann answers in a flat tone that’s belied by the blush creeping up the back of his neck.

“Uh huh.” Newt sounds skeptical, but lets the denial slide. “You’re probably better off not thinking about it. Her dad is _terrifying._ I don’t think Chuck Hansen’s fully recovered from that time he brought her home fifteen minutes late.” Newt shivers.

Hermann shakes his head to dispel a wish to ask exactly what Marshal Pentecost had done or said to Chuck Hansen. He strolls over to the end of the light string, connects it to one of the myriad extension cords littering the lab, and breathes a sigh of relief when every bulb illuminates and no breakers trip. Newt raises both arms over his head in triumph and climbs down.

“What is it you’re modeling, really?”

“I wish it was about your love life given these results,” Hermann mumbles. “It’s a projection of the maximum mass the Breach can transmit per event. There’s no upper limit. It’s infinite.”

“It hurts me, Hermann, deeply, to hear what you think of my dating prospects,” Newt pouts. Hermann fixes him with a thoroughly unimpressed look and Newt shrugs before continuing, more seriously, “Doesn’t the current model say the Breach will max out next spring?”

“Yes, the current one does show a plateau, but I believe it’s incorrect,” he replies with obvious confidence. “It may be that this result reflects incomplete data, but the Breach has been opening more and more frequently and the kaiju coming through have steadily increased in mass. It’s as though each transmission stabilizes it. If the Breach continues to expand, however, that would mean it could eventually support more than one kaiju per opening, since we know there’s an upper limit on the size their physiology can support. Kaiju could start arriving in waves.”

“Hopefully they wait until after the holidays.”

“Hopefully we’ve already seen our last kaiju” is Hermann’s blunt response.

For a heartbeat on Christmas morning, Hermann is sure a kaiju is attacking the Shatterdome. He calms somewhat when he realizes what he thought was a kaiju roar is Newt shrieking and the vibrations are caused by the man pounding on his door. Against his better judgement, he checks the clock. Five A.M. Hermann groans and contemplates burying his head under his pillow to get some more sleep. He sighs, realizing it’s futile, and shouts that he’ll be ready in a moment.

Newt is waiting for him in the ‘living room’, sitting on the floor in front of the couch.

“This came for you yesterday,” Newt says, handing over a dense package. It’s from Karla, Hermann’s sister, and opening it reveals a small box of high quality German chocolates. “Wow,” Newt breathes. “I haven’t seen these in a while. My uncle always had them around when my dad and I visited before K-Day. I’ve missed them.” He pauses for a moment and adds more quietly “I miss them.” Newt puts some cheer back into his voice, asking “These bring back any memories for you?”

“No,” Hermann replies softly. “I don’t have many memories of pleasant things from before I arrived here and none of those involve chocolate.”

“Time for new memories, then,” Newt says, handing over a package. “Here. This is for you.” Unwrapping the box reveals a digital camera, a remote shutter trigger, and a collapsible tripod. Hermann stares at them, dumbfounded.

“It’s an astrophotography kit. You can set up on the roof and snap to your heart’s content.” “You need some kind of artistic hobby and since you won’t let me teach you to play piano, I hope photography is more your thing.”

“This… this is too much.”

“Nah,” Newt says with a dismissive gesture. “I got it all second-hand, not because you’re not worth full price, but this is all I could afford. Speaking of which: No city food for a month or two.” Newt grins.

“Thank you,” “I have something for you, too.” Hermann pulls a flat package wrapped neatly in red paper from under the couch. “Merry manufactured gift-giving holiday, Doctor Geiszler,” he says, a smile creeping across his face.

“Oh my god! _Kaiju in Film History,_ the pre-K-Day edition!” Newt’s voice jumps at least an octave higher than normal. “Where did you get this? How the heck did you pay for it?”

“I have my methods.” Hermann smirks and fixes Newt with a look that dares him to ask questions.

“Nothing shady, I hope.” Newt crooks an eyebrow and lets his voice rise in concern. “You’re not, like, stealing chemicals to make and sell drugs, are you?”

Hermann rolls his eyes. “No. Just enjoy your book, Doctor Geiszler.”

“That’s another thing. I demand one more present,” Newt declares after crossing his arms on his chest.

Fighting a smile, Hermann replies “I don’t think that’s how this works.”

“It does now. I want you to start calling me ‘Newt’. ‘Doctor’ makes me feel _old.”_

“You _are_ old. At least, you’re old enough to be my father, Newton.” The name feels funny on Hermann’s tongue and an uncertain look crosses his face. For his part, Newt freezes as he registers the truth of the comment about his age. A beat of silence passes before Newt breaks the uncomfortable moment by grabbing a last box from the couch.

“This is from Mako,” he says with indisputable glee. “Open it! Open it!” 

Hermann tears into the paper and reveals a faded box from the glory days of the Jaegers with a _Gipsy Danger_ model inside. The note attached, written in Mako’s neat hand, reads “I think your collection needs our girl. Maybe next year you can come to Anchorage and visit her.” Hermann looks starstruck.

“You should see the look on your face! You have the biggest crush in the history of crushes!” Newt’s voice breaks with laughter as he chants “Hermann and Mako sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I….” 

Hermann grabs a pillow from the couch and swings it at Newt’s head. Newt catches and holds it with his left hand while seizing the other throw pillow with the right. He laughs maniacally as Hermann tries and fails to wrench his cushion out of Newt’s grip.

“You’ve asked for it now! Newton Geiszler never loses a pillow fight!” he crows, raining blows on Hermann’s side and shoulder. When Newt hesitates for an instant to catch his breath, Hermann launches himself across the gap between them, tackling Newt and pinning the adult’s arms to the floor while straddling his rib cage.

“Jesus! You’re fast!” Newt pants as Hermann looks down at him triumphantly. “Okay, okay. I give up!”

“Let go of the pillows, Newton,” Hermann orders.

“Not until you get off me,” Newt counters.

“On three, then.” Hermann begins counting. “One.... Two….” Before voicing the ‘three’, Hermann releases his grip on Newt’s arms to yank the pillows free and throw them across the room.

“You cheater!” Newt yells. “Not that it will help you now!”

There’s a brief scrum that ends with Hermann face-down on the floor with Newt’s knee (gently) in his back and one arm of his arms pulled up into a lock.

“I _told_ you. I don’t lose pillow fights. _Ever.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I continually ‘won’ pillow fights in college using the method Newt employs here. My friends never tried to prevent me from doing it. Maybe they just liked being battered with cushions.
> 
> You’ll find out how Hermann earned the money for Newt’s present later.
> 
> The longer I work on this, the less like the sixty-year-old the OP requested my Hermann becomes. I can’t picture any young teenager, even one with Hermann’s early history and essential nature, spending 24/7 with Newt and not starting to loosen up, if only to preserve his sanity. Kids are shaped by environment and relationships and the scenario I’ve stuck him in gives Hermann very, very different ones from those he suffers in canon (limited time with his father, no contact with his siblings, no boarding school, no bullying [since he’s not around other kids], and, well, NEWT). He’s got to be a different person at the end and how I see those changes really starts to show in this chapter.


	8. His Father’s Son (August 2024)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The relationship between Hermann and his father reaches a breaking point.

_“God damn it! What am I doing wrong?”_ Hermann shouts and throws his marker against the floor in complete frustration. “Kaiju mass was supposed to plateau last month according to the old predictive model, but yesterday’s emergence was the largest yet. I _knew_ the model was wrong, but _I can’t fix it!”_

“Dude, it’s okay.” Newt places a comforting hand on Hermann’s shoulder and gently tries to steer him away from the boards. “Take a break and go back to it later. You’ll get it.”

Hermann forcefully shrugs off the hand and turns on Newt. “It’s not ‘okay’ at all!” he shouts. “Do you understand? If we don’t find a way to convince the UN to restore our funding or close the Breach ourselves, all of the pilots and Jaegers will die and we’ll have nothing but the useless Wall to protect us. Good people are dying and more will die if we don’t find an answer!”

“Hey.” Grabbing Hermann’s shoulder again, Newt gives him a small shake. “You don’t have to save the world on your own. All of us here are working on this. We’ll get it,” he says reassuringly. “The answer’s in the kaiju, so we need to keep studying and that’s what we’re doing. I’m learning everything I can about them before we destroy ‘em all. Maybe seeing one up close would help. Besides just being awesome.”

“When you talk like that you sound more like a groupie than a rockstar.” Newt looks hurt, but Hermann plows on. “You should focus more on trying to kill them and less on fanboying after them.”

“I’m _not_ a fanboy!” Genuinely offended, Newt throws his hands up. “I’m looking for clues to how to stop them. Like, how they’re all clones. Maybe that has something to do with how they can get through the Breach when everything we throw at it bounces off.”

“There has to be something inherent in the Breach causing that to happen. Perhaps it has to do with the length of post-emergence stabilization. Maybe we’re not hitting it soon enough after the kaiju comes through.”

“The last attempt cost us two Jaegers and we were there within five minutes. The bomb still went boink, dude. There’s something else going on.”

They stare at each other across a worktable, arms braced on the surface and leaning into each other’s space. Hermann is the first to break eye contact. “Fine,” he says. “You’re the expert. I defer to you. Now, what do you want me to work on?” 

Newt blinks at the sudden halt. Hermann does this all the time, he thinks. If the kid’s so sure he’s right, why does he back down? It doesn’t make sense. “Ummm… go prep the storage space for the samples we’re getting tonight. The list of what’s coming is in my email.” The boy shuffles off to work on shifting tanks and rearranging extension cords while Newt watches him, still confused about how the debate ended.

When Hermann finishes, he finds Newt has wandered off and all of the blank space on his board is covered with doodles of chibi kaiju. Hermann picks up the eraser and sighs, then gives up and decides to work around the drawings. They are kind of cute, even if he’d never admit it.

An executive officer appears in the lab the next afternoon while Newt and Hermann are wrist-deep in a slab of kaiju pectoral muscle. “Mister Gottlieb, the Marshal wants to speak to you in her office.”

Newt unconsciously steps between the man and Hermann. “What does she want with him?” he asks suspiciously.

“She didn’t say, but we shouldn’t keep her waiting.”

Pulling off his gloves, Hermann stammers “Of-of course” before following the officer from the lab.

Marshal Xiong is not alone when Hermann arrives. His father stands next to her desk. Hermann’s hackles immediate rise. “Hermann.” Judgement and disappointment drip from both syllables. Hermann sees his father’s loathing flicker across the man’s face as he takes in the boy’s thin frame, one very reminiscent of his mother’s.

“Father.” Hermann forces his voice steady and fights to keep from standing at attention.

“Hermann, you will accompany me to New York. We’re leaving immediately. No need to pack. I will purchase you some appropriate apparel when we arrive.”

The terror Hermann feels at being forced to live with his father again makes his heart stutter and his palms sweat. “I need to tell Doctor Geiszler I’m leaving,” he says, hoping his panic doesn’t show.

Lars whirls to face the Marshal. “You put him in _Geiszler’s_ custody? That man is a disgrace and a menace and you gave my son to _him?”_

Xiong’s expression and voice are perfectly neutral. “Doctor Geiszler is the best choice among my resident staff. You did say the boy needed to be housed on station rather than in the city. That request limited my options somewhat.” Lars all but growls at the Marshal, who remains studiously mild. “Hermann, I’ll tell Doctor Geiszler where you are going. You don’t need to worry,” she says.

“Thank you, ma’am,” he says with a polite bow that she acknowledges with a nod.

Lars claps a hand onto Hermann’s shoulder with an audible smack. The boy jumps and twists away. Lars’ mouth thins and he replaces his hand, taking a harder grip on his son’s shoulder and steers him from the room. Xiong sighs and shakes her head.

When the Marshal reaches the lab, Newt is nervously tapping his fingers on his desk, staring at but not reading a chemical analysis on his computer screen. “Doctor Geiszler,” she says and Newt jumps and spins his chair around.

“Marshal! Where’s Hermann?” His eyes flick nervously around the entryway before settling on the Marshal’s face.

“His father is taking him on a visit to New York,” she responds calmly.

Newt’s response is anything but calm, his voice rising noticeably. “What? Why? When?” 

The Marshal starts to raise her hand to call for quiet, but remembers with whom she is dealing and simply resumes speaking. “Doctor Gottlieb assures me the boy will be returned in a few days. They’ve already left the base.” When Newt’s jaw drops, she continues “The request came as a surprise to me, but Doctor Gottlieb is Hermann’s guardian and it is his right to visit him when and where he sees fit.”

“No contact for two years and he just shows up?” Newt stiffens in sudden realization. “That’s not a visit; That’s a kidnapping!”

Xiong rolls her eyes. “No need to be so dramatic, Doctor. He’ll be back, unharmed, in a few days. I’ll leave you to your work.”

As he listens to the Marshal’s footsteps fade down the hallway, Newt folds his arms on the desk and drops his head onto them. “That asshole shouldn’t be able to do this. What the hell does he suddenly want Hermann back for?” He gives up on work and heads into the city to walk and clear his head.

It’s a long three days before Hermann reappears at the door of the lab and clears his throat, causing Newt to lunge across the space between them, shouting “Hermann! Welcome back, dude!” Newt stops just short of tackle-hugging the boy, settling for an embrace that pops several vertebrae in his back. “How was New York?”

“It was most unpleasant. My father and I argued. We parted on poor terms.” He sounds exhausted.

Newt steps back and cocks his head. “Like, what? He’s not going to send a birthday card next year? Not that he did this year, but you know what I mean.”

“I am no longer welcome in his home or presence.” He shakes with anger and suppressed tears. “Newton, he disowned me.”

“Jesus, Hermann.” They face each other awkwardly, examining their boots. “Uh… you wanna sit down and talk about what happened?”

Hermann shrugs, walks into his room, and flops on his back onto the bed. Newt hesitates. “Are you coming in or not?” Newt startles and sits down near Hermann’s feet. 

Hermann crosses his arms behind his head and sighs. “This trip was never meant to be a family visit. My father wanted me to attend one of his dinner parties to show me off to his political connections. Not because he was proud of me, mind you, but as evidence of how much faith he had in his Wall. He was willing to trust his young son’s life to it.” 

He pauses when he recognizes the unspoken question behind Newt’s gobsmacked expression.

“No, he didn’t inform his guests he’d pulled me out of a Shatterdome to attend and that I hadn’t lived on the ‘right’ side of a Wall in five years,” he continues. “I was a prop for him and I resented it. That’s why, when the British envoy asked for my opinion of my father’s project, I told him _exactly_ what I thought of it. Loudly.” He closes his eyes, almost savoring the memory. “I asked if losing whole districts of San Francisco, Manila, Cabo San Lucas, Sydney, and Vancouver to nuclear weapons was enough or if they planned on irradiating every port on the Pacific rim when the Wall failed. I also called the Wall a coward’s answer to the kaiju.” 

_”You_ said that? In front of bigwigs? I thought you played nice with strangers.”

“I’ve apparently absorbed some of your atrocious habits with regard to authority figures.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe seeing that a teenager thinks the Wall is a bad idea will shock them into restoring our funding.”

Hermann sits up. “You haven’t seen the news, then. The UN is completely defunding the Jaeger program. Shatterdomes will begin closing in the fall. Hong Kong will be the last one operating. Marshal Xiong is being reassigned and Marshal Pentecost will take command at the end of October. We’re running out of time.”

“We should probably get back to work, then, right?”

“Right. I’ve wasted enough time on self-pity.” Hermann slides himself off the bed and rolls his shoulders.

“Great! Before you start back in on your model, there’s a big pile of glassware and tools that need cleaning and sterilizing waiting for you by the autoclave.” Newt fixes Hermann with a mischievous grin. “Science missed you, dude.”

Hermann rolls his eyes and pushes up the sleeves of his sweater.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not sure why, but my version of Lars Gottlieb just plain hates Newt with the force of about ten million kaiju no matter the circumstances under which they first come in contact with each other in a given fic. Maybe someday I’ll explore that more fully.
> 
> You’ll note that Vancouver is listed as the site of a nuclear strike in Hermann’s dinner party rant. No Hermann working on the Mark I code meant a six month delay in completion of the Jaeger OS in this universe. _Brawler Yukon_ wasn’t ready to go in time to beat Karloff down, so the Canadians / PPDC had to take him out the old-fashioned way.
> 
> I lied in the notes a few chapters ago. The OC Marshal is back because Pentecost still hasn’t arrived yet and I needed a Marshal for reasons of plot.


	9. Arrivals (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The action at the last Shatterdome heats up and Newt has a terrible idea. At least Hermann thinks it's a terrible idea.

Hong Kong should never be this cold, Hermann thinks, but here I am standing in the rain wearing three of these crap bamboo fiber sweaters the PPDC supplies and positively freezing. Why do the transports bringing the last of the samples from Sydney need to be late? Why am I out here instead of Newton? _He’s_ supposed to be the responsible adult and he sends a teenager to deal with this shipment. Then again, I’m the one that forgot to bring an umbrella. He sneezes.

To keep his mind off the chill, Hermann watches the Lieutenants Kaidanovsky where they lean against a railing looking out over the harbor. They seem absolutely impervious to the rain. When Mister Kaidanovsky turns and catches Hermann’s eye, Hermann quickly looks down. It would not do to be caught staring.

Hermann stands for several more interminable minutes, cursing the weather. His teeth have begun to chatter when he feels someone gently wrap a coat around his shoulders. He whirls and finds himself staring directly at Aleksis’ chest. The giant man smiles when he looks up, pats his shoulder, and moves off to join his wife, leaving a stunned Hermann in his wake. Eventually Hermann recovers enough to button the coat and put up the hood, which promptly falls over his eyes. It may look ridiculous, but at least he’s less wet and cold wearing it.

The cargo helicopters finally arrive and offload the containment tanks. Hermann shepherds them into the freight elevator, then turns back to make sure nothing has been left behind. The hesitation is enough for someone to signal the doors to close. He flings himself across the wet tarmac as fast as he can and dives through the narrowing gap shouting “Wait for me, please!” He skids to a halt inside and shoves the hood of his borrowed coat out of his eyes and trying to ignore the way the garment is much too warm for the weather.

“Please take care with those,” he tells the techs near the largest tanks in the most commanding tone he can generate. “Specimens like this are very rare and most delicate.” Only after he’s sure Newt’s precious kaiju organs are safe does he notice the other three people in the elevator and registers that they were conversing before he burst in. He looks at Marshal Pentecost and gives a nervous bow. “I beg your pardon, sir. My apologies for interrupting.” The Marshal nods and Hermann relaxes slightly. Miss Mori treats him to an understanding smile that he shyly returns. 

A tired blonde man Hermann doesn’t quite recognize turns to the Marshal and raises an eyebrow that clearly asks “Who’s the skinny, soaked British kid and what’s he doing ordering adults around?”

“Mister Becket, this is Hermann Gottlieb. He assists Doctor Geiszler in our research division.” 

Becket tips his head in acknowledgement to Hermann, who returns the gesture, saying “A pleasure to meet you, sir.” Introductions made, the three adults forget Hermann and resume their conversation with the Marshal explaining what seems to be the day’s agenda to Becket.

As the elevator door slides closed, Hermann hears Becket call to Pentecost, “Since when do you have kids in the research division?”

“Things have changed, Mister Becket….”

Things are clearly positively desperate if Pentecost is pulling discharged Mark III pilots out of retirement to run _Gipsy_ with Miss Mori, Hermann thinks.

Newt is elbow deep in a section of kaiju spleen when Hermann reaches the lab and directs the new tanks into appropriate locations. “You didn’t let them get sloshed around too much, did you?” Newt demands as he glances up from his dissection.

“Newton, I’ve been your assistant for almost three years now. I know how to handle samples as well as you do.”

“Yeah, well, kaiju specimens are extremely rare,” is the huffy reply.

“So look, but don’t touch, please, and never, ever let them be sloshed around,” Hermann says in a flawless imitation of Newt’s American accent.

Newt glares across the room at his teenage lab partner, who stares back with a thoroughly unimpressed expression. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you manners?”

“I believe you’re responsible for most of my knowledge of etiquette.” The pair simultaneously stick their tongues out at each other. “Did you suffer any breakthroughs while I was out catching my death?”

“Oh yeah! I thought of a great experiment to do with that piece of brain that came in yesterday. It might be my best idea ever,” Newt gushes.

“What would that be?” Hermann is genuinely curious and not only because he wants an idea of what he will have to clean up when it is finished.

“That’s a secret.”

Hermann mentally counts down from ten. As he reaches ‘one’ Newt declares “Okay, okay. I think I know how to Drift with a kaiju” with obvious glee.

Hermann gapes for a moment before recovering his voice. “That’s insane! Not to mention impossible! Even if you manage to initiate a Drift there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to understand what you see! This is an alien consciousness!”

“But if it works--and it _will_ work--we’ll know more about the kaiju and the Breach! We could learn how to get through it ourselves! We need a better plan than throwing a bomb at the Breach again. I just have to borrow a Pons.”

“In the great catalog of your moronic, ill-considered ideas, Newton, this may be the most idiotic! Are you suicidal? The neural surge will kill you!”

“I know how to adjust for that. It’ll work! I’ll be fine.”

They squabble over the stupidity or brilliance of Newt’s proposal until Hermann finally calls a halt. “For love of heaven, Newton, give me some menial task to distract me from your insanity and go back to dissecting whatever that is!” He spends the next several hours mixing preservatives to fix Newt’s latest tissue type samples mentally reviewing his modifications to the emergence predictive model and trying not to think about how the only person who didn’t seem to view him as a burden had cheerfully announced he was planning to kill himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A peek into my writing process: This is actually the first chapter of this fic I wrote, although it’s changed _a lot_ from the initial draft.


	10. Last Days of War (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day in K-Science, a slice of life during wartime.

When Hermann tries to return the too-large, too-warm, fur-trimmed parka to the Russian pilots during a hurried afternoon meal in the mess hall, he blushes furiously and stumbles over himself in his effort to thank them. Sasha gives him a motherly smile and assures him the coat is simply a spare that was lying about. That Aleksis’ name is stitched into the lining puts that in doubt. 

“C’mon, Hermann! It’s time for _science!”_ Newt singsongs loudly from across the room as he leaves, making Hermann flinch.

_“Vernut’sya na rabotu, rebenka.”_ Sasha pushes Hermann gently in the direction Newt had gone. _“I pozdorovat’sya s tvoim ottsom dlya nas.”_

Hermann trots off toward the lab and another very late night helping Newt plan and prepare for the next day’s work, then making a last circuit of the space to clean up the remaining messes. It’s nearly three A.M. before he collapses on his bunk and sleeps like the dead.

He wakes at five and drags himself to his bathroom to get a glass of water and brush his teeth. He’d rather be sleeping, but with all the new samples coming in over the last few weeks, he’s been falling behind on his coursework. Early mornings provide most of the opportunities he has to study. Today he’s decided to devote to his ‘Survey of Modern Literature’ paper on Haruki Murakami. Only a few more units and he’ll finally qualify to take the Fifth Form equivalency test. A pass there will allow him to start college courses. Not bad for a fifteen-year-old who’s essentially been self-taught for the last five years, he sighs. 

At six-thirty, Newt bangs on his door, proclaiming it time for breakfast. Hermann slips into one of his usual hard-worn sweaters and sighs when he notices his pants are too short again. He must’ve grown another inch. That means he’s finally taller than Newt and it’s time to begin mocking the older man. When Hermann finishes lacing his boots and opens the door, Newt is bouncing on his toes despite the dark rings under his eyes. “Let’s go!” he chirps. “I need coffee.”

They are back at work by seven, fueled by a quick stop at the mess hall and enough black coffee to induce fibrillation in three normal people (unless one of those people is Tendo Choi, of course). The morning is typical for K-Science the day after new specimens arrive. 

Newt pulls samples from each organ (or fragment thereof) while Hermann handles the tedious work of preparing them for slide mounts, the mass spectrometer, DNA sequencing, and long-term cryogenic storage. Every so often, Newt pauses to record his observations on the new specimen or his plans for unique tests and experiments made possible by the nature of the latest materials.

Hermann sneaks a few moments during the day to work on his improvements to the kaiju emergence predictive model. It’s nearly complete, but there is still something incorrect about the interaction between attack spacing and kaiju mass. Something simple is wrong, Hermann feels, he just needs to find it. 

Hermann makes it through the penultimate test of the workday at two A.M. then passes out on the lab’s couch, head cradled on his arms. Newt drapes the godawful parka (the one that smells like tea and diesel for some reason) which mysteriously appeared the day before over him and sets up the last test himself. 

Asleep, Hermann looks like the fifteen-year-old he is, Newt realizes as he watches the boy while the spectrometer whirs in the background. But he’s almost as much of a genius as I was at his age. It’s … wrong that the war and his father’s job have screwed him out of a real education. If his schooling had been at all appropriate, he thinks, Hermann would have his first degree in hand and be working on his thesis research. Instead, he’s stuck here with me in the middle of a military base. This mess and I are all he has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google Translate Russian:  
>  _Vernut’sya na rabotu, rebenka.:_ Go back to work, child.  
>  _I pozdorovat’sya s tvoim ottsom dlya nas.:_ And say hello to your father for us.


	11. Briefing (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marshal Pentecost and Herc Hansen visit K-Science for information before the final raid on the Breach.

“You okay? You haven’t moved in ten minutes,” Newt inquires as he steps into Hermann’s ‘office’.

“My formula is working,” Hermann responds quietly. “I can’t find any more mistakes.”

“That’s great! What does it say?” Newt stops beside the teen, studying the numbers scrawled across the board with interest.

“We’re going to be seeing double and triple kaiju emergences in the next week. We’ll be overrun,” he whispers.

“You’re sure? You didn’t forget to carry a one or something?” Newt squints at the numbers.

_”No,”_ comes the frustrated answer. Hermann throws up his hands. “I’ve run and re-run it one hundred and six times. It either doesn’t work at all or produces this result. I’ve shown it to three mathematicians I know and they all agree there’s no errors in arithmetic.” He turns to face Newt, fear clear in his eyes. “Newton, I’m not wrong. I don’t want to be right about this, but I am.”

Newt swallows and nods. This is bad. Real bad. “We need to tell the Marshal this. Forget whatever I told you to do and work up a brief. You’ll present it to the big man when he comes by in an hour.”

When Marshal Pentecost arrives, he has Herc Hansen in tow. He heads straight for Newt. "What do you have for me, Doctor Geiszler?"

"Actually, Hermann's got something for you first." He gestures dramatically toward the young man.

Hermann suppresses the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he clears his throat and begins. "Marshal, Ranger. My improvements to Doctor Locksmith's predictive model indicate we will see an increase in the number of kaiju emerging from the Breach as well as increases in the masses of those kaiju. The greater mass should force the Throat to remain stable for a period of time after these larger kaiju appear."

"And the stability should allow our bomb to pass through and collapse its structure. We already know that from Doctor Locksmith’s work. Anything new, Hermann?" Pentecost impatiently glances at his watch.

"Yes, sir. Within the week there will be a double emergence, then a triple event the next day. After that the pace will accelerate until multiple kaiju are arriving every four minutes."

Pentecost looks skeptical. Hermann knows he’s not a figure to inspire trust in a man like Pentecost with his lack of credentials, his age, and his scruffy appearance. “The original model did not show a change in the rate and severity of attacks for several more years,” is Pentecost’s flat response.

“That is because Doctor Locksmith made a number of mistakes in his formula, sir. I corrected them.” Hermann does his best to hold his ground in front of the Marshal. “If you remember, the old model indicated that kaiju mass would plateau last March, yet the record for greatest mass has been broken four times since then. My model accounts for these increases.”

"That is rather difficult for me to believe, young man."

Newt steps protectively in front of Hermann, dangerously close to Pentecost’s face. "Don't 'young man' him. Hermann's right."

"I know you're fond of him, Doctor Geiszler, but to take the word of a child on a matter like this...."

" _A child?_ Newt moves even closer, puffing up like an angry cat. “This _child_ helped Mako with the design for her Jaeger and he’s been doing my math since he got here. And you, Marshal, made Chuck Hansen a _Ranger_ at Hermann's age and sent him out to punch kaiju in the face. Hermann's no more a child than he was." Newt can't resist adding, _sotto voce_ , "And he's definitely already more mature than Chuck is."

Pentecost fixes Newt with an even stare until the scientist returns to a more polite distance.

“Now that you understand the time pressure we’re under, let me give you my idea,” Newt begins after an annoyed huff. He explains how the kaiju are clones before launching into the part Hermann feared he would: Drifting with his portion of Mutavore’s brain. Hermann holds his breath as the Marshal and Ranger Hansen listen with skeptical expressions and finally exhales when they dismiss the idea as too dangerous.

Pentecost turns to Herc. “We’ll continue with Operation Pitfall as planned. Thank you, gentlemen.” He nods at Newt and Hermann and walks out of the lab, Herc at his heels.

“Guys, this is the most amazing thing anyone’s ever…,” Newt shouts after them.

“Newton, it’s pointless to argue with the Marshal. You know how he is once he makes up his mind,” Hermann interjects consolingly, but he lets a tiny glint of smugness into his voice as he continues. “Not to mention you’ll kill yourself if you try it.”

“Would you shut up about that? I know what I’m doing. _I’m_ the kaiju expert,” Newt yells back.

“Both Marshal Pentecost and Ranger Hansen agree with me that it’s too….”

The tendons in Newt neck jump as he goes red in the face. “Hey! Which one of us has the six doctorates here? Who finished college by fifteen?” he screams.

Hermann flinches like he’s been slapped and some small part of Newt’s brain realizes he’s crossed a line.

“Forgive me for speaking out of turn, Doctor Geiszler.” He won’t meet Newt’s gaze. “I’ll return to preparing those reagents you asked for this morning.” Hermann slinks off to the back of the lab, shoulders hunched.

“Jesus, Hermann. I’m sorry. I didn’t… I wasn’t....” Newt tears at his hair and bangs his head against the kaiju brain tank. “Why? Why doesn’t my don’t-be-an-asshole filter engage before I say stupid shit like that? Some parent I make,” he mumbles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone wondering why my Pentecost is so dismissive of Hermann, remember that in this world they have no history together. Pentecost arrives in Hong Kong after the Anchorage Shatterdome is shut down in October. He’s probably only interacted with the kid a handful of times and has only a minimal idea of what Hermann is capable of. At best, he’s heard stories from Newt and Mako and now this kid he doesn’t know from Adam is telling him that a model that he’s been relying on for years created by top-of-the-line physicists is wrong and he has a better one. He’d be nuts not to be skeptical.


	12. Gifts & Secrets (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt does something unusual and also violates some safety protocols, while a mysterious package arrives for Hermann. And, oh yeah, some serious sh!t starts to go down.

Hermann haunts the corners of the lab as far from Newt as possible while working that morning. Finally, Newt can’t take it anymore. He misses th banter and, well, the guilt eats away at him. He calls the boy over. “Look at me,” he says. “I’m an idiot. You know that. Hermann looks like he wants to add a smart remark, but holds his tongue. “I say stupid things all the time, especially when I’m mad. That college thing was low and mean of me to throw at you. Honestly, you’re the first person I’ve ever worked with who can keep up with me.” He reaches for a hug that Hermann tentatively returns. “I’m sorry. You’re great and a genius. Don’t let anyone--including me--tell you otherwise.”

“Thank you, Newton,” Hermann says. “I’ll treasure this moment. You apologize so rarely.”

“Don’t get used to it,” Newt says with a playful shove. “I plan on being nothing but right from now on.”

“Best of luck with that,” Hermann snarks with a grin.

“Get out of here before I have to shove you again,” Newt says with a dismissive wave and a laugh. “Run by Supplies and see if our orders came in, then grab some lunch for us.” Hermann snaps a sarcastic salute, turns on his heel, and strolls out of the lab.

Hermann returns with a stack of boxes, topped by a lumpy bundle that nearly blcoks his vision. He places most of the materials on a clean worktable before carrying that final package to his ‘office’. “What’s that? A package for you?” Newt follows Hermann across the lab, obviously eager to see what’s inside. “Do you know who sent it?”

“No. The supply clerk said it ‘appeared’ on the shelves late this morning.” Hermann tears at the wrapping. 

“Is that real wool?” Newt gasps.

“Yes. And there are three of them.” Hermann gently lifts the sweaters--red, green, and khaki--from the pile and sets them to the side.

“Those have cost a fortune since they evacuated New Zealand."

The rest of the package is also clothing. Interestingly, some of them are perfectly sized for Hermann and others are clearly too large. He unpacks cargo pants of a higher quality than PPDC-issue, wool socks, t-shirts, a leather belt, and several pairs of blue denim jeans.

“Dude! These are real Levis. I haven’t see these in years! Can I borrow them?” Newt bounces on his toes in eagerness.

“We may be the same height for now, but you outweigh me by at least thirty pounds. You’ll cause internal trauma trying to do up the zip.” Newt whines in disappointment as Hermann continues to sort through the clothes. “Oh. I think I know where these came from,” he remarks quietly. He holds up a black t-shirt emblazoned with gold writing in Cyrillic script. “The Kaidanovskys.”

Newt gives a low whistle. “I guess if they can get a nuclear bomb, turning up some wool and Levis must be easy.”

When Hermann spots the Kaidanovskys in the mess hall at dinner, he’s wearing a shirt with the outlines of _Cherno_ ’s clashing fists across the chest and his new jeans. He starts to approach their table to thank them, but they smile warmly and wave him away. He mouths a ‘thank you’ and sits down with Newt and Tendo Choi. He eats his lunch while the adults passionately discuss some old band he’s never heard of. It’s always a relief to see Newt talk to someone else. Occasionally, entire weeks go by without him interacting with someone other than Hermann. For all his reputation as an extrovert, Newt spends a lot of time in near-isolation.

At the end of the day, Newt sends Hermann to work on editing one of his papers in his own quarters. Once it sounds like the teen has settled in, Newt jams the locking mechanism, trapping Hermann inside. Praying the kaiju hold off on their next attack and that there’s no other emergency, Newt sets to work soldering connections on his makeshift Pons.

Newt bashes on Hermann’s door at six A.M., jolting him from finishing his work on Newt’s manuscript. He peeks out, still in his sleep shirt and pajama pants. “Hermann, I need some more anti-Blue from Supplies. Grab some breakfast for both of us and as much coffee as you can get out with. I can’t leave this latest experiment and I’m hungry and under-caffeinated.” Hermann grumbles, but dresses in one of his old sweaters over one of his new shirts, the one with the double-headed Russian eagle, and goes.

He strolls back to the lab three-quarters of an hour later, arms full with a case of clinking glass bottles, packets of coffee, and a box of take-out from the mess balanced on top. The lab is suspiciously quiet. If Newt was really working on what he said he’d be working on, he would normally be talking to himself.

Hermann drops the packages and sprints across the empty space when he sees Newt twitching on the floor next to the brain tank, a squid cap on his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve apparently internalized the fan characterizations of Sasha Kaidanovsky as “Mother Russia” and Aleksis as a big softie. They totally did what they did without my planning it ahead.


	13. Don’t Leave (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Newt's Drift, Hermann tries to keep the two of them safe and sane.

“Newton. Newton. Newt! What have you done?” Hermann calls as he throws himself on his knees next to the man. He grabs Newt’s hand, finding it warm under his fingers. He feels for a pulse at his throat. Strong but fast. He yanks off the squid cap and sends it skidding across the floor. 

“Come back. Please come back. Don’t you leave me,” he pleads.

Newt’s eyes snap open and he gasps for air, then locks his fingers around Hermann’s arm and a fistful of his sweater. Hermann leans against Newt, wrapping the man in his arms. “Don’t ever scare me like that again!” he breathes into Newt’s neck. They hold onto each other both trembling. Finally, their breathing and heart rates approach normal again.

“Get Pentecost. I was right," Newt croaks.

“Not until I’m sure you’re alright." Hermann grabs a desk chair from nearby and scoots it closer. “Can you get up?” he asks.

Newt nods, looking like the motion upsets his equilibrium. Even with support from Hermann, his legs buckle under him and he crumples back to the floor. “Mebbe not,” he slurs.

“It’s okay. Rest here. Just relax. Deep breaths. I’ll be right back. I’m only going over to the sink.”

Hermann returns with a small glass of water and a damp rag. “Here. Drink this. I’m going to clean you up and make sure you don’t have cuts or other injuries, okay?” While he scrubs gently at Newt’s face and hands and checks his scalp under his hair for lacerations, Newt babbles about images and snapshots, emotions, kaiju masters and clones, hive minds, bioreactors and colonies and dying stars. Hermann nods and coos encouragingly, fighting off his panic that Newt had irreparably damaged his mind. To keep his hands busy, Hermann tucks Newt’s glasses into the man’s shirt pocket and pulls out the small recorder he finds there. I’ll have to listen to this later, he thinks as he tucks it into one of the cargo pockets of his pants.

The second attempt to get Newt off the floor and into a chair succeeds.

“I’m okay. Really. _Really._ You need to get Pentecost. He needs to hear this,” Newt demands.

“Okay, I’ll go, but don't you dare move until I get back.” Hermann turns and runs all the way from the labs to LOCCENT, arriving out of breath.

"Marshal!"

"Not now, young man."

" _Marshal!_ Doctor Geiszler...."

"Be quiet, Gottlieb, or get out of LOCCENT!"

Hermann winces at the shout, but bites his tongue. Please, god, let Newton be alright until I get back.

The Drift test goes horribly wrong. Hermann freezes in place as Tendo and Chuck Hansen wrench connections apart to shut down _Gipsy Danger_ 's charging plasma cannon. _Gipsy_ lowers her arm and the static charge in LOCCENT lessens. Hermann forces his breathing to steady.

"Marshal, Doctor Geiszler built a neural bridge out of garbage and Drifted with a kaiju!" Pentecost spins and heads for the lab. Hermann jogs to keep pace.

“I found him on the floor. He’s sort of dazed. He kept asking for you. I didn’t know what else to do…,” he trails off as he crosses the lab to crouch beside Newt’s chair.

“I told you it would work,” Newt says with pride.

“Yes you did,” Pentecost says, wonder evident in his voice. Hermann has never heard any Marshal sound so impressed with anyone before. If he wasn’t so worried about his health at the moment, he’d probably hope Newt didn’t notice or he’d be insufferable about it for days. “Well, wha’d you see?”

Newt launches into his disjointed account of what he experienced in the Drift and at Pentecost’s questioning look, Hermann indicates that Newt is repeating the same story as before. Pentecost, however, succeeds in coaxing a more coherent narrative out of him. Hermann stays silent through the recitation, his hand resting lightly on Newt’s arm. He only reacts as Pentecost says “Newton, I need you to do it again.”

Hermann is on his feet and nose-to-nose with Pentecost before he’s fully aware of what he is doing. “You must be mad! This Drift nearly killed him! We don’t even know if he’s suffered physical trauma!”

“You are in no position to question my orders, boy.” Pentecost’s voice allows no space for disagreement. “I need that information and Doctor Geiszler is the only one who can acquire it for me. So he _will_ acquire it. _You_ will be quiet and stay out of the way. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir,” Hermann whispers.

Pentecost dismisses Hermann from his attention with a crisp “Good.”

Pentecost explains Hannibal Chau and his black market traffic in kaiju remains. If the man’s line of work wasn’t enough of a warning to be on guard around him, Pentecost gives Newt a meaningful look and intones “And a word to the wise, do _not_ trust him.” Hermann notices that, in typical Newt fashion, the scientist is paying more attention to the orange card Pentecost gave him than to the man’s words. 

“I’m going with you,” the teen says. “If you drop dead with an aneurysm someone will have to tell the Marshal.” And if Marshal Pentecost needs the information that badly, finish the mission in your place. “Besides, what can I do around here while you’re playing the action hero? Be underfoot in LOCCENT?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we begin to see the protective streak I headcanon Hermann as having (especially when it comes to those he’s close to, like Newt) and watch it be amped up by the supposed invincibility of youth and a healthy body.


	14. Refuge (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not even the mighty Hannibal Chau can keep the boys from arguing. Then they meet someone who can.

They find the shop at the corner of Fong and Tull easily enough and, as Pentecost promised, the orange card grants them access. Hermann raises his guard as the wall slides open, Pentecost’s warning about trusting Chau ringing in his ears. While Newt runs around excitedly calling out the artifacts, he tries to note possible exits. The man in the red suit and ridiculous shoes is obviously Chau. As soon as the big man opens his mouth, Hermann fights an eyeroll. Chau apparently picked up his act from some B-movie villain. The way he smarms “Who wants to know?” is almost too cliche for words.

“I really can’t say,” Newt answers in his best attempt at a suave voice. At that Hermann does roll his eyes. The man may be brilliant, but he’s a horrible actor. When Chau reaches toward his pocket, Hermann realizes what’s coming next. He takes a step forward and places himself between Chau and Newt as Chau flips out switchblade. The knife stops an inch from Hermann’s throat, but the boy doesn’t flinch. 

Chau grins, gold grill flashing. “You got yourself a brave kid there.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Stacker Pentecost sent us.” Newt gestures airily. “I take it you’re Hannibal Chau.” The black marketeer slides back into his role without missing a beat. He and Newt banter about parasites and kaiju cults, while Hermann tries to keep track of Chau’s heavies with his peripheral vision and wills Newt not to say anything stupid. It takes what seems like hours for the two of them to get down to business and start discussing what they were sent to obtain: A secondary kaiju brain. Which, of course, Chau doesn’t have, although he views the lack as an opportunity to tease more information out of Newt.

“So what’s the deal, little fella?” he asks, almost sweetly.

“Well, that’s classified.” Hermann begins his mental countdown. “So I couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to. But….”

“You’re not going to tell him, Newton,” Hermann breaks in evenly.

“What’s the harm?” Newt whines. “He’ll actually appreciate how cool this is! Unlike _some_ people.”

Hermann steps toe-to-toe with Newt, so close their noses touch. “You don’t give away classified information simply because you’ve found a fellow kaiju groupie!” he shouts.

Chau grins and takes a step back, enjoying the show, which continues even as the kaiju alarm begins to reverberate through the Bone Slums. Chau swears in Cantonese and pushes off back into the work area. Hermann and Newt freeze and watch him for a moment.

“Hang on a second. Excuse me, what’s going on?” Newt stammers as he darts from the balcony in pursuit of the retreating Chau.

“There’s two goddamn kaiju headed straight for Hong Kong City,” Chau barks.

“That’s not possible. There’ve never been… _OW!_ ”

Hermann smacks Newt on the back of the head. “I _told_ you there would be a double event this week!” 

Chau laughs, full-throated and honest. “Must’ve gotten his brains from his mother.” He chortles again and continues walking toward the back of the workspace.

“What’re we gonna do?” Newt whines, even as Hermann grabs his arm and tugs him toward the exit.

“I’m going to wait out this shitstorm in my own private kaiju bunker, but you and junior are going to a public refuge. Too bad there’s no room for you. Now get the hell outta here.” Half a dozen guns point at their heads. Newt and Hermann take the hint and sprint through the doors and out into the street.

Newt insists on turning around to watch the kaiju approach as they follow the crowds to the nearest refuge. "Now is not the time to be siteseeing," Hermann insists as he seizes Newt by the upper arm and starts towing him along.

“Oh my god. He’s looking for me.”

“That’s highly unlikely,” Hermann says reasonably.

“You don’t understand! I can feel him in my head, looking for me!” Newt yells in panic.

Hive mind. He's still connected to the hive mind. Later. Worry about that later. “We’ll need to analyze that if we live through this. For now just _move_ , damn it!” Hermann shouts and pulls Newt forward even faster until they dive through the doors of a refuge already crammed with people. Several feet of concrete and steel do little to dampen the sounds of kaiju footfalls and screams outside. 

Newt’s gaze flicks from spot to spot across the ceiling as the monster’s steps draw closer until the entire space shakes under its weight. “It stopped right above us. Oh my god. Oh my god. This isn’t a refuge--this is a buffet line!” he yells, each word louder than the last. “He knows I’m here,” he wails in horror.

A girl about Hermann’s age in a red jacket tries to hush him. “It knows we’re all here!” she says.

“No! You don’t understand! He knows I’m here! He knows I’m here and he’s trying to get me! I’ve gotta get outta here! Let me out!” He lunges in a random direction and Hermann grabs him in a bear hug, twisting himself around so they are face-to-face, and holding Newt still.

The girl looks at Newt, her eyes huge and afraid, and shouts something in Cantonese. Everyone in the refuge surges away from Newt and Hermann toward the edges of the room. “What did she say?”

“I think it was ‘the kaiju wants the little guy’,” Hermann translates as Newt tries again to break his hold and run. He recognizes the panic in Newt’s eyes from how he found the older man after his Drift. “Newton, hold still! There’s nowhere to run.” More softly, he adds, “I’m here with you.”

The ceiling shakes violently, dust filtering down through the air. The girl tries to pull Hermann away from Newt and toward the side of the shelter, but he shrugs her off and keeps his hold on Newt. Enormous claws punch through the roof, bringing down a huge section of road. The kaiju jams its head through the opening and the crowd presses itself closer to the walls. Hermann watches over his shoulder as it unfurls a tongue that reaches for Newt. He feels the heat of its breath and feels a chemical vapor burn his eyes and exposed skin.

Hermann tries to push Newt away from the collapsed ceiling, but it’s like Newt has put down roots. Oh no, you are not going to die on my watch, Hermann thinks. He braces his feet and shoves Newt in the chest as hard as he can. Newt lands on his ass while Hermann stands over him, silhouetted by the blue glow from the kaiju’s searching tongue for a moment before he throws himself to the ground, pinning Newt under his weight. An eternity later, the kaiju withdraws and stalks away from the refuge.

“We need to get out of here,” Newt pants. Hermann agrees and clambers to his feet, pulling Newt up after him. The two scramble up the fallen asphalt to the street.

“Why did it leave?” Hermann wonders.

Newt blinks and responds, his voice distant, “Jaeger. One of the Jaegers came up behind us … them. One we ... they hadn’t seen in a long time.”

” _Gipsy Danger_ ," Hermann mumbles. "That has to be _Gipsy_." 

They hear the crashes and roars of the battle in the distance. “What do you think? Think the Jaegers got us our brain?” Newt asks.

“Yeah. Of course,” Hermann says with more confidence than he feels. Newton doesn’t need to know about the failed Drift that morning. If _Gipsy_ was fighting something horrible must have happened.

The ground beneath them jumps twice in quick succession. "What the hell was that?" Hermann turns to Newt and asks.

"I think it was one of the kaiju. It-it tried to fly away," Newt answers. "The other must've been the Jaeger it grabbed."

Miss Mori and _Gipsy_. Hermann's stomach turns as he reflexively calculates the forces which must have been generated by an impact like that one. "God, I hope they're alright," he says. He looks at Newt. "What do we do now?"

Newt shakes himself back to reality. “Uh. Okay. You get back and collect the equipment. I’ll talk to Chau.”

Hermann begins to run toward the Shatterdome, stops, and calls, “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.” 

“Same to you, buddy.” Newt waves as Hermann nods and takes off again, then turns and jogs back to Chau’s shop, adrenalin quickly draining from his system. He arrives as Chau and his men emerge from their bunker.

“Okay. Guess who’s back, you one-eyed bitch!” he yells, shaking violently. “Now you owe me a kaiju brain.”

Chau looks impressed. “Where’s junior?” he asks.

The question catches Newt by surprise. “What? Oh. He’s collecting supplies.”

“Good. I was afraid he got eaten instead of you,” Chau says as he lands a stinging backhand on Newt’s upper arm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The actress playing the girl in the red coat is [Victoria Marie](https://www.facebook.com/MsVictoriaMarie), who is all of nineteen. That’s close enough to fifteen in Hollywood years for her to pass for Hermann’s age. Especially since those flowers in her hair seem like a flourish a younger person would add.


	15. Drifting (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt gets his brain, Hermann makes an offer, and the pair of them have to save the world.

While Hermann waits for the technicians dispatched to help him move Newt’s Drift equipment, he remembers the recorder he took from Newt that morning. Miraculously, it’s still in his pocket and unharmed. He settles into his desk chair and presses ‘play’. He listens to Newt ramble in a very Newt way before the man’s voice goes unusually quiet.

“Hermann,” he says, “if you’re listening to this, I’m either alive and I’ve proven what I’ve just done works and I plan on mocking you for years. Or I’m dead and I’m really, really, _really_ sorry. I’m sorry I messed up. You deserve better than me anyway. I’m so proud of you. Uh. Right. I’m going in in three… two… one….” Hermann flips the recorder off and stares at it for a moment before pressing a button and saving a message of his own. He drops the device back into his pocket and directs the just-arrived workers in shifting the machinery.

The techs tell Hermann it was the chain sword that saved both _Gipsy_ and Hong Kong. His refinements made a difference. Any pride he might feel is washed away when it becomes clear that _Gipsy_ only fought because _Crimson,_ , the Weis, _Cherno,_ and the Kaidanovskys died in the harbor. 

The Weis kept him safe almost single-handedly his entire time in Hong Kong and even sparred with him--very gently--on occasion. The Kaidanovskys showed so much kindness in the few days he knew them. He will have to mourn them later. He has work to do. Hermann squares his shoulders and climbs aboard the helicopter with the equipment. He spends the ride to meet Newt with his head in his hands, fighting back tears.

Hermann jumps out of the chopper and jogs to Newt’s side. “What in heaven’s name is that?” he yelps when he gets a look at the huge inert form in the middle of the street.

Newt gestures expansively and says “Exactly what it looks like: A baby kaiju.” He dodges through debris and directs the techs where to unload the machinery while Hermann watches (and surreptitiously pokes the corpse with his index finger a few times). “It’s my next Drift partner,” Newt announces as he drives the final connecting cable through the kaiju’s skull.

“Your other Drift partner, you mean,” Hermann calls from the position he’s taken near the equipment. “I’m going with you. We’ll share the neural load like the Jaeger pilots do.” Newt turns so quickly he nearly falls from his perch atop the creature’s head.

Newt’s voice sounds awed as he says “You’re serious. You’d do that for me? I mean, you’d do that with me?” 

“Of course I’m serious,” Hermann tosses over his shoulder as he adjusts the software for a three-way Drift. "To quote someone we both know, fortune favors the brave, dude."

Newt races over and hugs the boy. “You sure?” When Hermann nods, he holds out his hand. “Then say it with, my man. We’re gonna own this bad boy!” Hermann rolls his eyes, perfectly returns the handshake, and repeats the words in his least impressed voice. 

“You ready for this?” Newt calls. Hermann nods. “Initiating neural handshake in five … four … three … two … one!” He presses the button and their worlds turn blue.

Hermann feels his mind ripped open and stitched back together … differently. His brain feels like it’s the wrong shape and his mind no longer fits properly. 

It hurts. 

It really, really hurts. 

He flails in his own and Newt’s memories for moment, a welter of sound and smell and picture, before the hivemind opens up in front of him. It is so very wrong, but it slots _so_ perfectly into the new arrangement of his mind, as though they were designed for each other. He feels Newt, or at least something that registers as Newt-ish, drifting past and pulls him close. What they need swims by and Hermann grabs it tightly. As the Drift ends, the physical reality of the Hong Kong night pulls him back. Inside a body that feels as though it’s missing two limbs, four eyes, and a multitude of tattoos, Hermann is immediately overcome by vertigo and throws up. 

Newt steadies him. 

They realize together that Operation Pitfall is doomed unless they can return to the Shatterdome before it’s too late.

On the helicopter back Hermann sits pressed against Newt’s side shivering inside his sweater, his expression and eyes blank. Newt yells into his ear over the roar of the rotor blades. “Where’d you go just now? You okay?”

“I’m fine. Just overwhelmed. There’s a lot more noise in my mind than I’m used to.” Hermann shakes himself. “A Jaeger is going to have to lock up with one of the kaiju and fall into the Breach if we want a chance to collapse it.” He adds expressionlessly “It’s a suicide run. They’re already waiting for us.”

“Maybe there’s some other way to do it…. C’mon, think!” Newt sounds desperate, but he needs there to be a different way.

“You know there isn’t. Don’t lie.”

“Yeah.” He exhales a shaky breath. “Yeah. It’s the only way.” Hermann nods and drops his head against Newt’s shoulder. “Hermann? What happened tonight? With the kaiju.”

Hermann stiffens then shudders again. “The Weis and Kaidanovskys are dead. _Striker_ and _Gipsy_ are the only Jaegers left. Hercules Hansen’s too injured to pilot. It’s only Miss Mori and Mister Becket out there against two kaiju. There’s another one waiting.” Hermann’s eyes tear and he swallows hard. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you distracted before the Drift.” He studies the blood on his hands from his post-Drift nosebleed. “We don’t have a chance. We're going to lose,” he whispers.

“We’ll win. I know we’ll win.” Newt forces conviction into his voice.

“You’re starting to doubt it, too, but thank you for trying to comfort me.” Hermann huddles even closer.

Newt wraps both of his arms around Hermann and buries his nose in the boy’s short hair. Hermann leans into him as he blacks out again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I agonized over Newt’s altered message. He’s Newt so he needs to get in a taunt, but he’s also awkward with feelings and desperate not to hurt Hermann. I’m still not sure I got it right.
> 
> I made some changes after this had been up a couple of days after Neotoma pointed out that I shifted perspective a couple of times for no good reason. The changes aren't major and most of the trimmed material will be integrated into a later chapter.


	16. Through The Breach (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One final battle, one first battle.

The pair burst into LOCCENT and Newt grabs for the communications microphone, shoving Herc out of the way, calling him a ‘fascist’ for a reason only Newt understands. Hermann follows a couple of steps behind. As he closes the distance to the console, he realizes Marshal Pentecost is absent. _Striker_ is out there with Pentecost and Chuck Hansen in the Conn-pod. Maybe with two Jaegers they have a chance, he thinks, but a little voice in the back of his mind scoffs.

Hermann finishes Newt’s sentences as they explain to the four pilots what must happen. It’s easy. He knows what the man will say before he voices it.

As soon as Newt finishes his warning, Herc roughly shoulders Hermann away from the microphone and the boy struggles to keep his balance. Newt glares at Herc’s back and starts to move toward the Ranger with his fists clenched, but Hermann grabs his jacket and holds him in place, shaking his head. The motion blurs his vision slightly. He knows Newt is worried about him and lets the man support more of his weight as the vertiginous feeling returns.

When the Category 5 emerges in front of _Striker_ Hermann feels the last of both his and Newt’s hope drain away and a spike of triumph that makes bile rise in his throat.

Becket screams and Miss Mori groans on the comms, the sound crystal clear to Hermann even as the other voices in LOCCENT are strangely muffled. _Gipsy_ is crippled: arm gone, knee shattered. Hermann tastes machine oil, gags, and runs out of LOCCENT on rubbery legs, slumping against the wall outside. He falls onto his hands and knees, side pressed against the wall, and vomits. He drags himself away from his mess and curls up on the floor, whimpering and sobbing, pain blossoming across his face and chest, arms and throat. 

“Hermann? What’s happening?” Newt’s panicked voice cuts through the haze in his mind.

“I don’t … know. Please … please stay away! I don’t know … what’s going on. I’m scared I’ll….” He shoves weakly at Newt as the man tries to hold him. He’s vaguely aware of Newt shouting for someone to call Medical for help as he struggles to break loose. He goes still with a choking noise and claps his hands over his ears, eyes shut, gasping for air. Newt seems very far away, his pleading voice barely audible over the roar of blood in his head. 

“Please, Newton. Please make it stop,” Hermann begs, fighting to pull words out of the confusion, anger, fear, and pain swirling in his mind. It is almost a relief when his world flashes kaiju blue then deepest black as he loses consciousness.


	17. Medical (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt watches and waits.

Newt’s focus has narrowed in the last few minutes from the fate of humanity to the skinny boy in his lap. Hermann tenses in his arms, muscles locking and trembling. Old first aid training kicks in and he shifts Hermann into the recovery position for seizures and wills the medical team to arrive faster. Their appearance breaks Newt’s concentration enough to allow the cheers from LOCCENT to register.

We’ve won. We won! Oh my god, it’s over and we’re going to survive.

The EMTs pump Hermann full of lorazapem as the seizure goes on and on, fighting to stop it before it kills him.

Please don’t let him die, Newt silently pleads. Not now. Not like this. He deserves better than this for stopping the end of the world.

After stabilizing Hermann, the EMTs take off for Medical with him at a dead run, Newt stumbling along behind as fast as his exhausted legs can carry him. They’ve only reached the doors when new Marshal Hansen announces to the entire base that the Breach is sealed and gives the order to stop the war clock.

A medic grabs Newt in a bear hug and wrestles him into a chair near the front desk. Until the doctors are satisfied Hermann is out of danger, Newt will have to wait there and let them do their jobs. He struggles for a moment before resigning himself to his waiting room exile and slouching low in his seat.

With nothing else to occupy them, Newt’s thoughts race wildly through the day’s events, the Drift, Hermann’s memories, his own, the hivemind. He feels dizzy almost immediately.

We won. We won because of my crazy idea, he marvels.

My crazy idea worked because Hermann saved me. _Three times_. He ended the first Drift before it could fry my brain. He got me away from that kaiju. In the second Drift, he held me together and found the key before I did. I’m a rock star, but he’s the hero. Now, he might be dying in the next room and it’s totally my fault.

What did I do to him? Please let him wake up okay. He’s not a soldier, he’s a kid. He’s my kid.

He presses the heels of his hands to his eyes and tries to breathe around the lump in his throat.

About a century later by Newt’s count, the doctors emerge and tell Newt they have no idea, really, what caused Hermann’s seizure. Maybe it was the neural surge from the Drift or maybe the stress of the rest of the day or maybe some combination of the two or maybe it was simply the time for latent epilepsy to make itself known. They shrug. “We’ll know more when he wakes up and we can give him an MRI,” they say.

“When will he wake up?” Newt demands. The doctors give a noncommittal answer. Maybe hours or maybe days, they say.

“Since you’re up and about, Doctor, we should give you a thorough once-over, too,” they say reasonably.

“No way in hell I’m leaving Hermann until he’s awake and I’m sure he’s okay. Understand?” he declares. The doctors shrug again and direct Newt to the private room Hermann’s been assigned. Newt enters as quietly as he can.

The boy is paler than ever and looks positively tiny lying in the hospital bed. He’s unconscious and his breathing hoarse, but the heart rate monitor beeps with a reassuring steadiness. Newt takes Hermann’s hand in his own and swears he can feel all the bones in the kid’s fingers pressing through his skin. If Hermann survives this … . _When_ , Newt corrects himself forcefully, Hermann survives this, he’s going to make sure he eats better. 

With his other hand he flips his voice recorder over and over. The medical staff found it in one of Hermann’s pockets and left it on the bedside table for him. Newt’s fingers shake as he thumbs the ‘play’ button. Hermann’s voice crackles from the tiny speaker.

 

> “Newton, if you’re listening to this you’ve obviously survived your second Drift and hopefully found the information we need to close the Breach. As for me, since I’m going to Drift with you, I’m either alive and plan on taking credit for saving your reckless ass or I’m dead and you need to know it’s not your fault. _It’s not your fault._ There is no choice. One of us has to survive and my joining you improves our chances. You … you were better to me than I ever dreamed anyone could be. My only regret is not saying this in person: I love you.”

 

Newt drops the recorder and cries into his hands.

He doesn’t know how long he cries or how long after that he rests his head on his arms on the edge of Hermann’s bed, studying every millimeter of his face. He’d never noticed the boy has a few freckles spattered high on his cheekbones before. 

Enough time passes for Hermann’s breathing to edge back toward normal, which gives Newt a bit of comfort, before he hears a polite knock at the door. He debates ignoring it, but relents when he remembers it could be a doctor with news and opens it.

Hercules Hansen stands in the doorframe, looking as a exhausted and bereft as Newt feels. Newt startles at the presence of the man who is technically his commanding officer. Who he’d called a ‘fascist’ not that long before. “Doctor,” Herc says, “may I come in?”

“As long as you’re quiet.” Herc nods and settles himself in one of the chairs provided. Newt resumes his vigil from the other seat.

“The doctors tell me you’re refusing treatment and tests,” Herc offers as he looks at the boy in the bed.

“I’m not leaving him,” Newt replies stubbornly.

“The people upstairs told me about the two of you,” Herc says to Newt without removing his gaze from Hermann. “I understand. The first time Chuck got hurt … I nearly passed out--blood loss--before I let anyone look at me.” He smiles sadly and shakes his head at his own stubbornness before turning to Newt. “You go have your tests, Doctor. I’ll sit with him until you get back. If he wakes up or anything changes, we’ll pull you right out.”

Newt gapes in astonishment at the offer. “Thank you, sir,” he says quietly. He pulls himself to his feet and all but tiptoes out of the room.

Herc looks over at Hermann again. “Fifteen,” he whispers. “Fifteen is too young to fight wars.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hermann’s message was easier to write than Newt’s. He needed to respond to the taunt and declare that he’s doing what he thinks he must to protect Newt, both physically and psychologically. He’s a little less awkward because he took a moment to mentally compose his speech before pressing ‘record’.
> 
> Chuck Hansen was fifteen when he became Herc’s co-pilot in _Striker_.
> 
> The gap to the next chapter may be a bit longer than y'all have gotten used to. My drafts of the next two or three chapters have to be scrapped and completely redone. They're holdovers from an earlier, lighter direction that I've abandoned because, after I thought about it, they just didn't make sense with what’s gone before.


	18. Dreaming (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermann dreams. Or does he remember?

Hermann dreams.

 

> He feels diffuse, as though his consciousness extends through many bodies, many points of view. 
> 
> He waits in a dark place swimming lazy circles. Two new points force their way into his mind. They are tiny, bright, alien. Intruders. Vermin. They are not him, but they add to his awareness. A machine will come, they say, and he accepts it as true. The intruder points lack the strength to lie to him. 
> 
> One of the intruder points stretches and winks out. The other holds on, reshaping itself to fit into him. This new part of him is weak but has a unique view. He welcomes it.
> 
> Two machines arrive. He killed the slow one, but it walks toward him. The new part of him insists fast one is dead, but it walks toward him. He is confused. 
> 
> The number of machines does not matter. The machines will die and he will take this world as he is ordered. He is happy.
> 
> The new part of him shares the Key with the machines. He is displeased and strikes angrily at it. It staggers under the blow. Real discipline must come later. Now, he must act. Another part of him emerges from the Door. He will win.
> 
> He lunges at the slow machine. The machines must not be allowed to work together as he does. Alone they are weak. He knocks down the fast one. It bleeds.
> 
> The slow one extends the claw that killed him earlier. He tears off the forelimb and tastes the machine’s carbon-rich blood. He crushes the second joint of the slow one’s hindlimb. The new part screams: angry, frightened, and in pain. He strikes it again and it whimpers. He must concentrate on fighting.
> 
> The slow machine pierces him with another claw. He screams as it burns his face at a fire fountain. He fights free. The machine is crippled. It will die.
> 
> He charges the slow one. Its claw tears him in half. Part of him dies.
> 
> He charges the fast machine. He tumbles and strikes its chest even as it slashes his throat. Three parts of himself are hurt. He sends comfort. He is furious at the machines for hurting him. 
> 
> The fast machine stabs him, nearly severing his forelimbs. He pushes himself free and calls to another part of himself. He leaves the slow one. He will kill it later. It is no threat.
> 
> He circles the fast one, planning. He charges. The fast one suddenly glows like his blood. A flash. Part of him dies. The fast machine dies. Another part of him pleads for help, but is too far away. He sends comfort again. He hurts. He rages.
> 
> The slow machine comes. He stands between it and the Door. It lunges. It skewers him with its claw. He falls into the Door. He rakes at the machine, tries to tear it open, kill it. It burns him. Part of him dies. 
> 
> The machine uses a dead part of him as the Key and comes.
> 
> He is afraid. He has failed. The slow machine is stronger than he is. It will reach him. The Masters will punish him.
> 
> He thrashes against his cages as he sees the machine fall into the sky. He roars. The machine’s glow expands. He struggles harder. That glow means death. He is frightened.
> 
> He does not want to die. He fights the cages. 
> 
> The glow races toward him. He screams.

 

Hermann whines and twitches as he begins to wake up. Newt squeezes Hermann’s hand more tightly as he presses the nurse call button with his other hand.

Even before consciousness fully asserts itself, Hermann nearly drowns in noise. His thoughts race, feeling ragged and disrupted, swirling in a deafening welter of blue-tinted memories: some his own, some Newton’s, some from the kaiju hivemind. Another voice’s stream of consciousness jabbers away. It tastes familiar as it speeds along, high-pitched and worried, flavored with guilt, concern, hope, and love.

“Thank god scared finally waking up be okay hope please be … ,” it chatters.

Hermann forces his eyes open. A face looks down at him. A human face. I know him, he thinks. He is not me. He has a name. _What is his name?_

The memories and the voice make too much noise for him to concentrate. He can’t breathe. Hermann slams his eyes shut and reflexively covers his ears, nearly pulling out his IV, to block out the sound.

“Stop,” he pleads. “Can’t … too loud.” Hermann whimpers again and curls into a fetal position, tears leaking from under his eyelids. His heart rate and blood pressure soar.

He can’t see them, but doctors surround him. Hermann smells fear and registers the scent is growing stronger.

“Doesn’t fit. Not right. Hurts,” he whispers. He flinches away from a hand on his arm and makes an animal noise.

The chattering mind comes closer: eager to protect him, afraid for him, angry he is hurting.

Hermann fights the strong hands holding him down, thrashing weakly against their grips. He feels a sharp prick in his pinned forelimb.

“No no no no be okay Hermann okay love don’t please help him my fault please don’t die … ,” the other voice begs.

It’s Newton, Hermann thinks. _I hear Newton’s thoughts._

The sedative takes hold and his mind goes silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god. I think I managed to make the kaiju somewhat sympathetic.


	19. Guilt (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt reacts poorly.

After the staff wrestle him to the waiting area, Newt explodes at the first doctor to emerge from Hermann’s room. “What the _fuck_ just happened?” he screams.

“Doctor, calm down. We honestly have no idea what caused him to react like that. All we know is what we saw. You saw the same thing. Excuse me.” He leaves Newt to join an impromptu conference on the far side of the room.

A pair of doctors break away from the group and approach Newt like he’s a wild animal. Considering his recent shouting, it’s probably a wise course of action. 

“Doctor Geiszler, I don’t think we should wait until Hermann wakes up again for an MRI. We’d like to sedate him a little more heavily so he doesn’t regain consciousness in the middle of the procedure and panic. I understand you act as his guardian?” Newt nods. “Do we have your permission?”

“Yes,” Newt says quietly. Oh my god. What’s happening to him? he thinks. What’s wrong?

Newt slouches back to the waiting room and flops in a chair with his eyes closed and his head resting against the wall behind him. Newt would feel better if his own tests hadn’t come back clean. He suffered no brain damage, dodging a bullet there. The doctors let him go with some electrolyte restorative drinks and orders to see a psychiatrist with a specialty in treating PTSD as soon as possible.

Herc Hansen clears his throat as he walks in and when Newt opens his eyes presses a cup of Tendo’s special coffee into his hands. 

“I heard,” Herc says.

Newt takes a long look at the other man. He’s shaved and has probably slept, unlike Newt. Newt stares at the tar-black liquid in the mug.

“It’s the neural surge, isn’t it?” he asks hopelessly. “It’s killing him. It didn’t hurt me, but it’s killing him.”

“You don’t know that,” Herc replies.

“What else could it be?” Newt yells, jumping to his feet and splashing hot coffee over his hand. He doesn’t notice. “I killed him! _It should’ve been me_!” His hands shake so badly the mug drops from his grip and shatters on the floor.

Herc says nothing and stares at the ground.

Newt collapses back into his chair and the two men sit in uneasy silence while the maintenance staff hover, afraid to intrude on them to clean up the mess. Finally, Herc speaks. “Go get some sleep, Doctor. You need to be ready for whatever they find. We’ll call for you if he needs you or they find something.”

Newt debates protesting, but rubs his eyes, heaves himself to his feet, and searches for an empty bed to crash in.

Hours later, an insistent knock at the door of Newt’s hiding place jerks him awake. He throws himself across the room and yanks it open.

“Can I see him?” Newt asks before the two doctors in front of him manage to open their mouths.

“Well, we’d like to discuss something with you first,” the taller doctor says.

“It’s really bad, isn’t it?” Newt asks anxiously. The doctor mumbles something about talking in a better location and motions Newt to follow him. The other doctor falls into step behind him. Newt walks like a man on the way to his own execution.

Newt’s ears ring as the doctor says something about finding abnormalities on the MRI and hands over his tablet. “On the left is a normal scan of a young man about Hermann’s age,” he says. “On the right is Hermann’s.”

The contrast horrifies Newt as he watches the animations cycle. Hermann’s brain is covered with a multitude of tiny spots missing from the ‘normal’ scan. Newt asks, “These marks are, what, scars?” in a shaky voice.

“Most of them are slight overgrowths of neural tissue, more like tumors than scars. A smaller number of the marks are lacunae--gaps. None of them are individually much larger than a pinhead.”

“It remodeled his brain,” Newt whispers as he returns the tablet. “Something about the Drift, my equipment, _something_ , changed the structure of his brain.” The doctors nod in agreement. “Wha-what does that mean? For him? Will he be alright? Will he be able to live normally with this sort of damage?”

“Doctor, I know this is hard to hear, but we have no idea of the answers to those questions. There’s nothing like this in the medical literature.”

“And I bet you pricks are itching to get behind your computers to write this up and get your names in _Nature_! Screw the kid who might be dying down the hall! What’re you going to do for him?! You can’t leave him sedated or like he was this morning!”

“We’re doing the best we can, Doctor Geiszler,” the doctor says in a voice just shy of exasperated. “We’re consulting with neuroscientists around the world about Hermann. We want to be careful so we don’t cause him any more harm.”

“Yeah, I guess I’ve already done enough damage,” Newt mumbles and buries his head in his hands.


	20. Walls (January 2025)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few things are cleared up.

Hermann dreams:

> He sits in a gray room, feet swinging inches above the floor thanks to the too-tall chair. He feels very small. A man with funny glasses and funnier hair appears and he finds himself in a room full of smart people talking about interesting things who seem to like him. The funny-looking man gives him a new shirt, talks to him kindly, and touches his shoulder gently. Hermann wants to stay so badly it burns in his chest.

Wakefulness claws at him, bringing with it a hurricane of sound and emotions. His head throbs. He opens his eyes but can’t focus them. He gasps for air and clutches with both hands at the arm attached to the hand holding his, gripping it with all the strength he has.

“Oh no please not again Hermann please scared come back please can’t be no don’t … ,” the familiar other voice--Newt’s mind--babbles.

Other hands try to break his hold and he fights them. Newt is yelling and crying, mind racing, but even though he’s angry and fighting, his voice grows farther away.

Defenses, Hermann thinks desperately. Dams. Dykes. Walls. Keep the noise out. It’s the last thought he has before the sedatives kick in and he slips back into sleep.

Hermann dreams:

> He stands in cold water and tears open the giant machine, tossing one of the vermin inside into the sea. The other vermin screams like a part of himself has died. He recognizes the sound and feels a flash of pity before the angry memory that these vermin and their machine killed many parts of him before resurfaces. He feels a terrible pride at the vermin’s death and plans to take his time tearing the machine apart before moving on to the vermin colony he smells in the distance.
> 
> The vermin still inside the machine keeps screaming.

Hermann feels consciousness creeping back, the volume of the noise in his mind increasing with each second. He keeps his eyes closed and tries to visualize barriers to hold back the remnants of the hivemind and all of Newt’s thoughts, but his walls are flimsy and melt away as soon as they appear.

No no no, he thinks, not again.

“Hermann please wake up be okay please sorry can’t don’t please live love please … ,” Newt chatters.

I’m sorry, Newt, Hermann thinks as he sobs wordlessly, muscles trembling but his grip on Newt’s hand crushingly tight. He blacks out before the doctors reach his bedside.

Hermann dreams:

> He fidgets nervously in Marshal Xiong’s office waiting to sign papers hot from the fax machine. The top of the first page reads ‘Consent for Adoption’. “You’re doing the right thing, Doctor Geiszler. For both of you,” the Marshal says with quiet confidence. His hand trembles as he puts his jagged signature on the document underneath the blank for the other man’s.

Hermann braces for the noise, pain, and confused memories. He rushes to finish his mental wall against them before they swallow him again. He succeeds. Newt’s thoughts chirp away and he sets to building a separate room in his mind for them, complete with a door that will allow him to hear more or less of them. He closes the door and Newt’s presence drops to a buzzing whisper. Much better, he decides.

He can think clearly for the first time since his Drift. How long has it been? he wonders. 

Hermann opens his eyes. Newt leans over him looking absolutely terrified.

“Why didn’t you tell me you adopted me?” Hermann rasps.

Newt starts at the question. “Umm … I couldn’t figure out a way to say it that didn’t sound stupid. I’m sorry,” he says softly. A wave of guilt seeps under the door of ‘Newt’s room’.

“S’okay,” Hermann says. “Thanks for doing it. I like you better than my first father anyway, Newt.”

Newt laughs and hugs him tightly. Hermann opens his door a little to soak in Newt’s happiness and relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now there really will be a long gap to the next chapter. My notes from here on out are a total mess. But at least I'm leaving you on a somewhat happy note, right?

**Author's Note:**

> Please be aware that the title may change. Usually I have no problem naming fics. This one, though…. If you have any suggestions, drop them in the comments or at my tumblr: <http://pickle-plum.tumblr.com>.
> 
> Written for [the prompt:](http://pacificrimkink.livejournal.com/2747.html?thread=3402171#t3402171)  
> “An au where there's a 20 year age gap between between Newt and Hermann. Either 20-something Hermann and 40-something Newt or perhaps teenaged Hermann and normal age Newt. Hermann still acts like he's 60 and Newt is eternally 8. Preferably Gen fic.
> 
> “+1 if kaiju drifting having a stronger effect on a still developing brain(the human brain does not finish developing until the age of 25)  
> +1,000 if Newt adopts Hermann(officially or just becomes a father figure)”
> 
> To create this universe, I made only two key changes to the canon and novelization canon. First, I shifted Hermann's birthday by 20 years. Instead of 1989, he's born in 2009. This makes him just over 19 years younger than Newt and about 6 years younger than Chuck and Mako. Second, because no one else, including Hermann’s dad and siblings, have had their birthdays adjusted there’s a huge age gap between Hermann and his siblings. My headcanon for this world is that he’s Lars’ son from a midlife crisis fling with a younger woman who handed him back to his father and took off. And I totally had that down before I saw Newt’s story on the Blu-Ray.
> 
> Some other changes cascade from these two, mostly about the impact a lack of Hermann in K-Science would have on the pace of discovery and on results.


End file.
